3.1 General context
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Instituto de la Juventud de España
Spanish Institute for Youth
C/ José Ortega y Gasset 71
ES-28006 Madrid
Tel: +34 917 827 602
E-Mail:
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Labour market situation in the country
Current legislation
Legislation on labour matters in Spain is produced by the State, the exclusive agent for labour market regulation according under Article 149.1.7 of the Spanish Constitution (Constitución Española). The labour reform framework was significantly updated through Royal Decree Law 32/20218 (Real Decreto Ley 32/2021), which marked a significant shift in Spain’s approach to temporary contracts. The reform, following an agreement between the government, the trade unions CCOO and UGT, and the business organizations CEOE and CEPYME, aims to aims to align Spanish labour contracts with European standards, phasing out the contract for work or service, and presuming all new contracts are to be indefinite unless otherwise specified.
Youth Employment Policies
Spain’s Youth Employment Strategy is structured around the Youth Guarantee Plus Plan 2021-2027 for decent work for young people (Plan Garantía Juvenil Plus 2021-2027 de trabajo digno para las personas jóvenes), which replaced the previous Action Plan for Youth Employment, 2019–2021 (Plan de Choque por el Empleo Joven 2019-2021). This strategy aligns with the EU Youth Guarantee and aims to ensure that all young people are offered quality employment, education, or training opportunities within four months of registering as unemployed or inactive. With a budget of €4.95 billion, the plan includes 69 measures across six strategic areas, including vocational training, digital and language skills, and targeted support for vulnerable youth groups. Complementary initiatives such as the Youth Employment Plan (Plan de Empleo Joven) and the Comprehensive Qualification and Employment Programme (Programa Integral de Cualificación y Empleo, PICE), further reinforce the national commitment to youth labour market integration.
Youth Employment Statistics
According to the Spanish National Statistical Institute (INE) – in the Labour Force Survey (Encuesta de Población Activa, EPA) - the first quarter of 2023 saw 20,452,800 persons employed, with 3,127,800 unemployed, with an overall unemployment rate of 13.25%.
For young people, the unemployment rate for those aged 16–29 stood at 22.61%, a slight increase from the previous quarter. Youth unemployment is particularly concentrated in the services sector, which employed 79.9% of young workers aged 16-24. Additionally, youth employment in digital sectors and green economy jobs has seen growth, as Spain continues its transition to a more sustainable and tech-driven economy.
In the first quarter of 2023, the employment rate among young people aged 16–24 was 24.4%, showing a slight decrease of by 0.5 percentage points (pp), compared to the previous quarter. However, it represents an 0.1 pp increase compared to the same quarter the previous year.
For those aged 16-29, the employment rate stood at 40.6%, a 0.3 pp decrease quarter-on-quarter, but a 0.2 pp increase year-on-year.
Youth Population Decline and Ageing
Since 2007, the youth population has progressively decreased, with a total loss of 160,300 persons in the 16-24 age group and 1,325,400 in the 16-29 age group, while the population as a whole has increased by 510,000 persons.
This reflects the ageing population trend evident in most European Union countries. As the population of young people continues to shrink, Spain has introduced youth employment initiatives such as youth entrepreneurship programmes and start-up funding to encourage young people to remain in the workforce.
Early School Leaving Rates
The early school leaving rate has seen a downward trend, meeting the Europe 2020 Strategy target of 15% for Spain in 2021, with a rate of 13.3%. However, in 2022, the rate slightly increased to 13.9%, which is still above the EU average of 9.6%.
Spain's early school leaving programmes aim to further reduce this rate, with particular focus on vocational education and training (VET) initiatives and second-chance education. More information available in sub-chapter 6.1.
Gender Gap in Youth Employment
Although the gender gap in youth employment has narrowed since 2011, a small gap still remains, especially among younger age groups. In the first quarter of 2023, the gender gap in youth employment reached 2.86 pp for 16-24 year olds and 2.95 pp for 16–29 year-olds, with men typically having a higher employment rate than women.
Policies aimed at gender equality in employment, especially in male-dominated sectors like ICT and construction, are a priority for Spain’s employment and social policies.
Youth Employment in the Services Sector
Youth employment is concentrated in the services sector. In the first quarter of 2023, employment in this sector accounted for 79.9% of employed aged 16-24 and 80.6% of employed aged 16-29.
Youth employment in digital services, including technology and telecommunications, is rising, reflecting Spain's investment in the digital economy, which is part of its post-COVID recovery strategy.
Main concepts
- Workforce or labour force: individuals aged 16 or older who were either employed or actively seeking work during the reference week (the week prior to when the survey was carried out). They are subdivided into employed and unemployed people.
- Employed: individuals in this age range who worked for at least one hour for renumeration or those who, having a job, have been temporarily not working due to illness, holiday, etc.
- Unemployed: individuals in this age range who work, available to work and actively searching for employment. People who have already found a job but are still waiting to start working are also considered to be unemployed as long as they meet the first two conditions.
- Long-time unemployed: individuals in this age range who have been out of work for over a year.
- Inactive: individuals in this age range who are not included in any of the previous categories.
- Discouraged workers: individuals in this age range who do not have a job and are looking for a job as they believe they will not find it, whether they have or have not looked for it before, although they are available for work.
- ‘Ninis’ (youth not in education, employment, or training or NEET): young people of up to 24 (29 in many cases) years of age who do not work or study, or follow any type of training either. This group make up a significant portion of the youth unemployment issue, and Spain continues to implement measures under the Youth Guarantee to address this group.