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August 12 is World Youth Day, a date on which Ayuda en Acción wants to draw attention to the major problems of emancipation that this group is currently facing. From the economic crisis of 2008 to the present, young people have been the group most affected by each crisis, seeing their opportunities cut short and their future compromised. In Spain, the situation is particularly complex as the precariousness and cost of housing severely impact their living conditions.
The latest youth unemployment figures are positive. With this month of August, there have been 39 consecutive months of year-on-year decreases, reaching a new historic low with a total of 174,936 young people unemployed. However, job insecurity -low wages and high rates of temporary employment- and the high cost of housing are making it impossible for young people to become emancipated. The average age of emancipation of Spanish youth is over 30 years old. According to prospective studies by Ayuda en Acción, the situation will worsen between now and 2030.
The data on job insecurity and job satisfaction are also striking. The study on precariousness and 'disadvantaged transitions to the labor market' shows that in Spain only 23% of young people have a job that they consider “satisfactory”.
Having a job does not mean escaping poverty
All this means that having a job does not mean escaping poverty, much less having access to basic goods such as housing. The prospective study on the situation of young people in Spain in 2022 warned of a worsening housing situation even though employment and education were improving. The situation may be even worse now, as time goes by without taking the necessary measures to guarantee youth emancipation.
In addition to this, unemployment and job insecurity have also been shown to affect the mental health of youth. According to the Study on youth and unwanted loneliness in Spain, carried out for Fundación ONCE and Ayuda en Acción, unemployed young people consider that their employment situation and their lack of emancipation have a negative impact on their emotional well-being. In this regard, the report shows that the prevalence of unwanted loneliness in young people from households with economic difficulties is almost twice as high as among young people from households that easily make ends meet (36% compared to 19.4%).
Changing the situation: more housing, better education and employment
Thus, Ayuda en Acción urges the government to develop policies that help to increase the proportion of independent youth, policies that reduce the average age of emancipation, reduce the burden of housing costs, improve the public housing stock and create an effective policy framework capable of solving the structural housing problem.
To truly enable emancipation we must also look at education and employment. “Education is the key lever to break the cycle of poverty and access employment. There is a direct relationship between unemployment and impoverishment with the level of education. We need a public and quality education that guarantees access to all social strata, breaking inequality gaps, as well as the deployment of comprehensive programs in Spain, for inclusive learning and promoting employability,” says Alberto Casado, Ayuda en Acción's Advocacy Director.
For all these policies, Casado also stresses that youth must be placed at the center. “We must promote opportunities for the group with policies that meet their needs, and for this the public authorities have to give an active role to the group in society. It is time not only to talk about what is happening to young people, but also for young people to expose the world from their point of view and to listen to their opinions on precariousness, housing, diversity and other global problems such as climate change,” Casado said.
The 'Impulsa Empleo Joven' program in Spain
In Spain, it is also essential that policies are developed from a regional perspective. For this reason, Ayuda en Acción takes into account the areas with the highest unemployment to promote its education and employment programs. An example of this is the Impulsa Empleo Joven Program, the latest project launched in different regions to promote the integration of young people into the labor market. The program is the heir of eMprende, a pilot project framed within the deployment of policies linked to the promotion of the Minimum Basic Income from the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration. This initiative has made it possible to accompany young people through social and labor orientation, whose experiences are included in the ZETA documentary, which will be broadcasted next August 19 on RTVE Play.
