While unemployment records minimal since the onslaught of the great crisis in 2008 – with a rate of 10.29% in mid -2025, according to data released by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) -, on the other side of the currency, the Spanish labor market also stands out in a ratio that reflects the waste of work capacity :. Spain, with a rate of 20.86%, occupied fourth place among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) at the end of the last year. Only advanced by Türkiye, Chile and Colombia. This figure has also been valid to lead the European Union list, according to data from the same agency, so it stands out as one of the economies where a greater proportion of the universe of those who could be working or contributing more, cannot do so for various reasons.
To find, the OECD adds to the unemployment rate, that of inactivity and the percentage of underemployed or involuntary part -time workers, and leaves out those who are forming between 15 and 29 years. In this sense, the expert in Labor Market and researcher at Fedea, Florentino Felgueroso, argues that the definition of stop “is very restricted.” So the infrautilization rate allows you to see a series of nuances of. “Even over a year people can alternate from underemployment unemployment, and what reveals you is an important structural problem, so we are dragging that we are dragging for forty and so many years,” he explains.
Felgueroso, who has calculated this magnitude for years “as they do in the United States” – combining unemployment, the discourages, those who do not look for a position, but want to work and employees bordering on partiality – estimates that the ratio at this point of 2025 is around 19%. He recognizes certain advances, but ensures that there is still a way to go, especially in the case of underemployed. The Confederal Secretary of Training and Employment of Workers’ Commissions (CC OO), Loli García, agrees. “Employment data is important, but when we talk about underutilization we also talk about low quality employment, normally with more precarious working conditions, where people cannot develop a life in decent conditions, and that is why we insist that you have to take another step,” he claims.
The union leader points out that to lower this rate a change of productive model is needed: “The economy has to be based on strong sectors, with important added value, and that happens to make important changes,” he explains. It also points out that underautilization is a solid argument against voices that denounce lack of labor. “This that there are no people is not entirely true, there are those who want to improve their employment,” he says and adds it would be useful to “establish resorting mechanisms to meet employment demand and that people can be able to access their quality jobs and jobs.
The most exposed people
While OECD data is not broken down, experts point out that some sectors of the population are more likely to swell the waste ratio. Felgueroso highlights that people who come from outside tend to occupy more precarious positions or receive opportunities for less hours than they wanted. “When things explode immigrants are the first to fall both unemployed and underemployment,” he regrets and adds that the gender gap is visible “even between immigrant men and women.”
The leader of CC OO argues that “women are fundamentally those that support most involuntary part -time contracts and that is why the number of infrautilized women and in worse working conditions is also greater.” It also puts on the table the situation of young people. “They go through a journey of precariousness, temporality, although in many cases they are super qualified and are being used with temporary contracts or labor practices,” he says.
Thus, until the second quarter of this year, which rebounded to a new record of the 22 million workers – according to the last active population survey (EPA), corresponding to the second quarter – there are still gaps to close. To achieve this, Garcia considers it necessary to influence “working conditions and making a public commitment to a system that dignify working conditions.” He affirms that, as a country, it is “in a position to reach full employment, so it is not a utopia”, but for that it is necessary to face “the structural challenges” that still overshadow the actuality of the labor market.
