a study on educational quality in Europe has put in black and white one of the keys to what is happening in the labor market in Spain: Graduate rates in Spain have exceeded the European average. However, the data suggests that these graduates have studied the wrong races.
The result is a mismatch in the labor market and a inefficient use of talent because an important part of those who have spent years training end up in positions that either do not require that level of education or have nothing to do with the studies they completed.
Many university students, many vacancies. According to the report ‘Education and Training Monitor‘ Prepared by the European Commission, in the age group of 25 to 34 years, 52.6% of people in Spain have higher education. This places Spain above the EU average, with 44.1%, and the European goal of 45% set for 2030. This is great news since Spain has already exceeded the European goal for graduates, and even so it continues to expand that advantage year after year.
The problem is that all these graduates do not respond to what the labor market is demanding. According to Eurostat data By 2024, 35% of higher education graduates aged 20 to 64 are working in jobs for which their level of qualification is not required, compared to an EU average of 21.9%. Spain is at the rate of highest overqualification in all of Europe.
What is studied and what is needed. The European Commission emphasizes that this mismatch between the higher education courses being taken in Spain and the demand from companies is structural and that the Spanish economic system is not being able to absorb the volume of graduates it generates.
The European report describes a low employability of graduates in humanities, social studies and arts, who are more likely to end up in jobs below their educational level or far from the field they studied. In parallel, it is noted that overqualification affects women to a greater extent than men, which aggravates the gender inequalities in qualified employment.
On the other hand, the demand for specialists in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), grows much faster than the supply of graduates. In 2024, the number of vacancies per worker in the green and digital sectors will exceed the average by 52% and 212% respectively, showing a growing gap between the skills coming out of the education system and those requested by companies.
FP is taking off, but it’s not enough. The Vocational Training figures in Spain progress positivelybut they have not yet reached the point of balance between the supply of training and the demand for professionals. According to the study, only 10.1% of adults aged 25 to 64 have a mid-level VET qualification, well below the 34.6% average in the EU.
This lower presence of intermediate qualifications translates into worse employment results. The data suggests that the average employment rate in 2024 of recent VET graduates is 68.6%, compared to the 80.0% European average and far from the target of 82%.
Connecting education and business improves job placement. The dual vocational training reform It does seem to show signs of a positive impact on job placement.
According to data From the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, 73.8% of mid-level vocational training graduates in dual modality from the 2019-2020 academic year were working four years after finishing, compared to 66.5% of those who completed non-dual vocational training programs. Furthermore, 33.8% of dual vocational training students got a job in the first year after graduating, which confirms that direct contact with the company facilitates the transition to the labor market.
Image | Unsplash (Christian Lendl)
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings