Education and Unemployment Patterns for Young Workers with Job Experience in Spain

What is it about?

This paper analyzes the education and unemployment patterns for young workers with some experience in Spain at the beginning of the current economic crisis. The results clearly show that education level and field of study are crucial when explaining the instability of the first job and the difficulty in obtaining another one. Specifically, the lower is the educational level, the greater is the risk of unemployment, not only because it is less likely to keep the first job, but also because it is harder to find another one. Moreover, considering the field of study at a given educational level, it is detected that graduates from health and welfare are the best positioned in the labour market (especially university degree holders). For the rest of fields of study, and despite the differences in the risk of unemployment are small, it is observed that the lowest level of unemployment corresponds to sciences and technology, followed by social sciences and the rest of fields.

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Why is it important?

The education and unemployment patterns detected in the paper may be useful to guide both policy and individual decisions. Policy measures to be taken would include firstly, those designed to prevent a premature dropout the education system, without achieving a minimum level of education. Secondly, it is also important to provide students in secondary education with wider information on labour market prospects associated with different educational programmes. Thereby, this information is interesting when deciding future studies. Thirdly, it is necessary to continue promoting enrollment in sciences or technology subjects, as the European Union recommends. And finally, it is necessary to extend the “practicum credits” in university degrees in Spain, especially in the more general fields, as Bologna reforms’ attempt.