Alarming new data shows Spain leads youth unemployment with a rate of 27%, double that of the eurozone

Spain continues to lead Europe with its unemployment rate data, as well as the number of young people who are jobless, according to alarming new figures.

In June, Spain once again topped the eurozone's list, with an unemployment rate of 11.7%, almost double the average for the eurozone countries. Across the board, the unemployment rate remained stable in June at 6.4%, its lowest level in history, according to Eurostat data. This is one point lower than the level of unemployment before the pandemic, when in February 2020 the eurozone unemployment rate stood at 7.4%.

A total of 10.8 million people were unemployed in the eurozone in June, some 441,000 fewer than a year earlier. Of these, 2.8 million were residents of Spain, the highest volume in the entire eurozone despite having cut unemployment by 178,000 people in one year. The Spanish rate (11.7%) exceeds that of all its partners: Greece (11.1%), Italy (7.4%), France (7.1%), Portugal (6.4%) and Germany (3%).

The figures for youth unemployment are more alarming. While in the eurozone it fell to 13.8% in June, in Spain, it doubled to 27.4%, the highest among the twenty countries that make up the eurozone. Spain is ahead of Greece's 23.6% and Sweden's 21.3%. In total, 464,000 people under the age of 25 were unemployed at the end of June in Spain, 21% of all young unemployed in the eurozone.

Few young people in the workforce

One out of every five unemployed people under 25 years of age is Spanish, despite youth unemployment reduced by 16,000 people in one year.

A report published this Tuesday 1 August by Infoempleo and Adecco also revealed that half of Spanish companies have less than 15% of their workforce under 30 years of age, and that 72% have not implemented any strategy to promote youth employment in the last year. Of the few that have done so, most are through internships in collaboration with training centers, and only a few have training programs and scholarships.

The report also shows that three out of ten companies will have problems replacing employees who retire due to a lack of trained personnel in their area of business.

More women unemployed

By gender, women continue to have a higher unemployment rate than men, both in the eurozone as a whole, and in Spain. In the euro countries, the unemployment rate stood at 6.7% among women, compared to 6.1% for men, similar levels to those recorded in May.

In Spain, the male unemployment rate is 10.2%, the highest of the euro countries. In the case of women, unemployment rises to 13.3%, one point below the level of a year ago.