It was an old demand of the unions that, after overcoming many difficulties, came into force at the beginning of this year, and from what we now see, with results. It is intended that all scholarship recipients, both those who are paid for internships and those who are not paid, are affiliated with Social Security. After counting as of March 20, it appears that the number of contributing scholarship holders is already close to half a million. To be precise, there are 462,124 young university and vocational training students affiliated, totaling 95,000 with paid internships and 366,798 who do them without pay.
Since 2011, it has been mandatory for paid internships to contribute to Social Security, and this has led to a number between 60,000 and 90,000 students, mostly university students, being affiliated since then. Specifically, in February, there were 95,326. The difference is that since January 1 of this year, students on unpaid internships also have to contribute; and March data shows that there are 366,798. In this way, adding those who charge for internships and those who do not, the number of contributing scholarship holders reaches the 462,000 mentioned.
These data are still provisional, because the Ministry of Inclusion and Social Security has not yet published the official information, but from CC.OO. It is noted that they are those managed by the General Council of Social Security, and that the final figure may be higher because the registrations of some autonomous communities need to be communicated.
From CC.OO. highlight the importance of this increase in membership of intern students because “it allows students to be recognized, who in many cases delay their entry into employment to train, not only with a degree, but with contribution periods that will allow them to access a better and earlier protection of Social Security,” according to Carlos Bravo, Secretary of Public Policies of the union.
Among these contributing students, the majority age group is between 18 and 29 years old, with the majority present being women, 62% of those registered.
The contribution of unpaid training internships is one of the measures of the pension reform carried out in the period 2021-2023, and whose application had been largely delayed due to opposition from universities. To make things easier, the Ministry of Inclusion and Social Security agreed to cover 95% of the contribution, and also to extend its entry into force from October of last year, which is when it was planned, until January of this year.
