MADRID – Spain would be less and less attractive for young people to build a good-quality future. An opinion piece from LaVanguardia and other Spanish newspapers seems to agree with this view of youth´s views of Spain.
Spanish youth do not see a future in Spain
Younger Spaniards have been participating in riots for almost a week. This is in protest against the imprisonment of Spanish rapper Pablo Hasél. And with it the restriction of freedom of expression in Spain. This is one of the most recent problems in Spain. But there are other indicators that make Spain less attractive to young people.
High youth unemployment in Spain
One of the most important examples is youth unemployment. According to Eurostat, an average of 17.9% of young people in European countries are unemployed. Spain exceeds this average as more than four in ten Spanish youngsters are at home without a job.
Housing challenging in Spain
Housing is another headache issue in Spain. On average, young people in Europe are 26.2 years old when they start living on their own. In Spain this age is much higher at 29.5 years. The main reason is the difficulty for young people to get their own (rental) home. Rents in larger cities in Spain are rising faster than wages and there is a shortage of social rental housing.
Younger Spanish target group hit hard by corona crisis
Research agency Función Felipe González has come up with more painful figures about the younger target group in Spain. During the corona crisis, this target group was dealt a blow. According to the research report of the foundation, many young Spaniards had to stop their expenditure on (additional) training. Furthermore, they were able to work fewer hours and in this group the most were dismissed.
A good quality future difficult in Spain
In January a research report by Fundación FM was published on young people in times of pandemic. The main conclusion drawn from this is that 41% of the younger Spaniards surveyed believe that it will be very difficult to buy their own home, start a family or be financially independent in Spain.
More than half of these young people therefore think it is better to build a future outside Spain. It is mainly higher educated young people who have this opinion. Children from families with a lower income think differently about this. Spain appears to be one of the countries in Europe where most young people between the ages of 18 and 24 have not finished school by the compulsory age.
Young entrepreneurs not keen on Spain
Last Friday, Spanish news site ElEspañol reported that 80%of young entrepreneurs believe that Spain is not a good choice to set up a business. This target group is convinced that the Spanish government needs to do something to alleviate the tax burden on young and starting entrerpreneurs and the bureaucracy that entrepreneurs face when starting and running their business.
