Youth unemployment is the key for Spain to cease to be the EU strike champion

For a long time, Spain has been sadly famous in the European Union for having the higher unemployment rates. However, the panorama could be changing, with countries like Sweden and Finland registering a worrying increase in their unemployment figures.

Regardless of the particularities of the labor market of the Nordic countries, there is a factor that seems to be the key to this change in tendency: youth strike in these countries has not stopped growing, while In Spain it goes down.

A CYCLE CHANGE. According to the February 2025 data Presented by Eurostat, Spain has reduced its 10.4%unemployment rate. In general terms, these are not good figures taking into account that the average unemployment rate in the EU is 5.7% and 6.1% in the euro zone, but they suppose one more step in a progressive downward trend that began in 2013, the year in which there was a disastrous 26.06%.

However, expectations have not been so flattering for Sweden, that he has seen how his unemployment rate did not stop increasing to 8.9%, while Finland is 9.2%. Although these numbers are still lower than those registered in Spain, the upward trend of the Nordic countries has already lit some alarms.

The situation in Sweden. In Sweden, the labor market is experiencing a significant transformation, especially among young people. Eurostat shows a worrying escalation in the youth unemployment of Sweden that has gone from 23.8% in February 2024 to 25.1% in February 2025.

EU sources They attribute this increase in youth strike to the lack of alignment between education and the needs of the labor market. To give an example, Sweden does not have a strategy to prevent premature school abandonment. That reverses in a labor market with young people with little job training. In 2022, before the relentless increase in youth unemployment, Sweden began to encourage professional training among their young people to increase the employability rate of their youth. Despite the measures taken in this regard, the country has failed to stop its escalation.

Finland: next unemployment leader? Finland also faces similar challenges, with an unstoppable increase in its unemployment rate. Eurostat data indicates that, in February 2024, their unemployment rate was 8.1%, marking a sudden ascent up to 9.7% in January 2025, and moderating at 8.8% in February 2025.

Despite the efforts to diversify its economy, the dependence of certain sectors, such as technology, makes Finland more vulnerable to the fluctuations of the global economy, especially in agitated times such as those that are marking the Trump Tariff Policy.

Again, just take a look at the unemployment figures of young people under 25 years to observe the same pattern of increase in the youth unemployment rate, which in February 2024 marked 18.1%, while in February 2025 it was already 20%

The key to change for Spain: its young people. Observing youth employment data in Spain, there is a trend opposite to that of Sweden or Finland, with an unemployment rate in young people under 25 who has gone from 29.5% in February 2022, to 25.5% in February 2025. Again, without these bright figures, if they mark a sustained trend that is reflected in their total unemployment figures.

Unlike what happened in Sweden, the Reform of Vocational Training (FP) in Spain Yes has had a good answerfacilitating the insertion of young people in the labor market. According to INE data, youth employment has marked a strong decrease in recent years, from 50.23% in the fourth quarter of 2021 for the strip from 16 to 19 years and 27.20% for the strip of between 20 and 24 years, to 38.79% and 22.02% respectively.

FP as a quarry again talent. According to Study data ‘How to promote professional training in Spain: recommendations on the basis of German and Austrian models‘prepared by the Royal Institute Elcano, around 50% of the Employment opportunities in 2025 They will be reserved for people with the qualification of the Superior Technician for Vocational Training, evidencing that the labor market needs new qualified talent.

This data is complemented with the published By the Ministry of Education, Professional Training and Sports, which shows that the number of FP students increased during the 2022-23 course by 32.6%, highlighting especially in higher degree students, who had increased by 41.9%.

Much to do. Despite the advances in the reduction of unemployment, especially youth, Spain still has a long way to go and is far from power celebrate your unemployment data. The Spanish labor market remains vulnerable to seasonality due to the preeminence of hospitality and tourism dependence.

In comparison, countries such as the Netherlands (3.8%), and especially Germany (3.5%), with a serious crisis that keeps its economy on the edge of the recession, have managed to maintain their unemployment rates under control thanks to a strong investment in the Formation of their young people already efficient active employment policies.

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Image | Unspash (Mitchell Luo, Flyckt Tobias)