A recent analysis from the Bank of Spain sheds light on how gender and age shape employability. It finds that unemployed men are about 35% more likely to re-enter the labor market and take on additional work than unemployed women. Age also matters: those under 25 have roughly a 70% higher chance of finding re-employment than people aged 55 or older. The findings come from a report issued this week calling on the Government to reform unemployment benefits by boosting the monthly amount while shortening the payment period to encourage faster job placement.
As Spain moves to reform the unemployment benefit system, the Bank of Spain contributes its view through data and simulations. The study looks at how long unemployed people take to exhaust their benefits and how many eventually land new jobs, among other indicators. Presented within the banking supervisor’s annual report, it tests known biases in the labor market and shows how policy choices can influence outcomes.
The analysis highlights priority groups needing targeted support in public employment services, including women, young people, those over 45, and survivors of sexist violence. Through its simulations, the Bank of Spain shows that an unemployed man has about an 8.1% chance of finding a job, compared with around 6% for a woman in the same situation. Looking at youth versus older workers, the gap widens: people under 25 are about 8.4% more likely to stall in the job search than those over 55, according to the model’s projections.
Unemployment benefits and the duration six months into the program
Today, Spain counts roughly 2.7 million job seekers registered with Sepe. Not all of them receive a benefit that replaces lost wages or provides a basic livelihood. About three in ten do not receive any income from Sepe, often because they did not contribute enough during employment or because their benefits have already run out.
Eligibility rules in Spain require contributing the equivalent of a full year to qualify for the minimum unemployment benefit of four months. To receive the maximum duration of two years, an individual must have accumulated six years or more of contributions. The Bank of Spain’s data show that nearly half of beneficiaries exhaust their aid before six months, largely due to short work histories or unstable contributions. The same researchers note pronounced polarization among the unemployed: around half use up benefits in less than six months and are rehired later, while roughly 18% exhaust entitlements after two years of claim history.
The Bank of Spain proposes reallocating the same total unemployment spending in a way that accelerates job attachment. The suggested mechanism would raise the monthly benefit while shortening the maximum duration of payment. At present, the lower-bound monthly benefit sits around 560 euros and the upper bound around 1,575 euros gross, depending on contribution history and family circumstances.
According to the study, increasing ongoing support over time while reducing benefit duration could raise the probability of securing employment by about 0.11 percentage points on average, with the strongest effects seen among less educated job seekers and older workers. The researchers argue that a redesigned benefit structure could help people re-enter work sooner while preserving a safety net that prevents income shortfalls during job transitions.