The Deterioration of the Spanish Youth Labour Market (1985–2015): An Interdisciplinary Case Study

Abstract

The Spanish labour market is notorious for its high unemployment rate and its exceptionally high youth unemployment rate, job insecurity, impermanence and underemployment. This article presents a systematic analysis of the Spanish labour market’s deterioration process, in particular focusing on the youth labour market. It combines historic reviews with statistical analyses of data from official sources, like the Continuous Sample of Working Lives (CSWL), through different econometric models. The procedure consists of three steps: (a) first, a historical estimation to facilitate the systematic selection of the statistics, in this case contracts taken from a large sample of the Spanish workforce over the period 1985–2015; (b) econometric modelling of relevant indicators, in this case the average annual income, daily working hours and average length of contract; and (c) an analysis of the identified trends and conjuncture regarding precarious work and gender inequality.