While landing an internship here at Stern may be difficult for some, things aren’t as bad as they seem. The majority of us do find somethingpost-graduation, somewhere in the U.S. However, the same cannot be said for people aged 25 and under in Spain. Statistics show that over 50% of this demographic are unemployed. The reason for this is the end of Spain’s construction boom, where many teenagers found and eventually lost their jobs.
The major problem is that many people in this demographic had left school early to take advantage of the abundance of construction jobs so they are now left without an income and without a degree. Moreover, some are graduating with degrees but are still left unemployed. Companies also have little incentive to hire young workers as the older employees have more experience in the field. As a result, experts estimate that around 500,000 young laborers will leave the country every year until 2020 just to make a living.
The most popular destination for new jobs for Spaniards is Mexico. There are some that argue that the young workers can learn a lot from being abroad and bring new skills back to Spain in the future, but I see a new problem arising. Despite the decrease in illegal immigration from Mexico to the U.S. in recent years, the increase in Spaniards could saturate the job market in Mexico and could potentially rekindle our immigration problem. But as our economy picks up and more and more positions become available, illegal immigration might not cause such an uproar and hopefully will be a thing of the past.
