Youth unemployment rate (20-24 years old) in Spain 2014-2023, by gender
In the fourth quarter of 2023, the unemployment rate of females aged between 20 and 24 was approximately 24 percent, which was lower than the unemployment rate (26.65 percent) for males in the same age category. The highest unemployment rate was reached in the first quarter of 2014, when it reached over 50 percent for both genders. In total figures, such rates implied that over 362,000 thousand professionals aged between 20 and 24 were unemployed as of the last quarter of 2023.
A persistent problem
There is a striking contrast in the employability of professionals depending on age. By far, young Spaniards struggle the most to find a job. Over 42 percent of those aged 16 to 19 did not have a job in 2023. The unemployment rate for Spaniards aged 20 to 24 was 26 percent, and for the age group 25 to 29, the unemployment rate was 15.6 percent. However, the unemployment rate hovers at about 11 percent for older professionals whose age ranges between 40 and 64. These figures speak volumes of a persistent problem in Spain: high levels of structural unemployment. This issue is particularly evident in the country’s south. For instance, the unemployment rate in Andalusia stood at 19 percent in the last quarter of 2023.
Youth employment in Europe
Youth unemployment is most prevalent in Southern Europe; Spain, Greece and Italy are some of the EU countries with the highest unemployment rates. In these three countries, the rate was over eight percentage points higher than the average in the Euro area in 2023. On the other end of the spectrum, Germany, the Netherlands and Czechia had unemployment rates of less than 10 percent in that year. Nevertheless, the repercussions of the COVID-19 on the job market have been less devastating than the financial crisis of 2008. In countries that were badly affected by the financial crisis, unemployment among young professionals skyrocketed in the early 2010s. In Greece, unemployment of young professionals was over 50 percent from 2012 to 2014.
