The Spanish labor market has improved, but still presents deep problems. And some are getting worse, as is the case of elderly workers, aged 50 or over, who already make up the majority of registered unemployed; and if examined according to the EPA methodology, they already outperform the youth. They are the effects of the aging of the population, which has been modifying the age profile of the unemployed.
Specifically, elderly people make up 45% of the registered unemployed, making them the largest group; above the 40% of unemployed who are between 30 and 49 years old, and 15% who are under 30 years old, according to the quarterly Labor Market Observatory, which Fedea presented this morning.
If we compare with Europe, Spain is the country where the weight of unemployed people aged 50 or over has increased the most in the last two decades. So the elderly unemployed in Spain already represent 27% of the total unemployed in this group in the European Union. A percentage that makes Spain the fourth country in the EU with the highest percentage of unemployed people aged 50 or over.
The number of elderly unemployed is growing not only due to the aging of the population, but also the unemployment rate of these groups is also increasing.
“We are the country that has aged the fastest in recent times and the ones that are going to age the most in the coming years,” said Florentino Felgueroso, from Fedea. And here we can also see how the presence of women and immigrants among unemployed people aged 50 or over.
With the incorporation of women of a certain age into the labor market, the gender gap in those over 50 years of age is widening, and in some cases it is already greater than in the younger age group, when it used to be the opposite. In this way, “it is a new challenge for active employment policies, which must address groups with a greater risk of remaining in a situation of long-term unemployment,” adds Felgueroso.
On the other hand, the observatory also indicates that the forceful impact of the labor reform to curb temporary employment occurred in 2022, while this rate has been maintained in the current year. It has stabilized at around 17% according to the Active Population Survey (EPA), and between 14 and 15%, according to affiliation data.
He also adds that three effects are expected from the labor reform. In the short term, a decrease in labor turnover; and in the medium term, a lower impact of recessions on employment. An economy like Spain’s used to pay a high price in terms of employment every time a recession hit. Now, the forecast is that when the next one arrives, the effects will be smaller due to the lower weight of temporality in hiring. Finally, in the long term, the effect of the reform is expected to be an increase in productivity, according to the Fedea report.
