FRANCE The

Trends
According to the estimates, in order to reach the 2010 employment
rate target at EU level, Spain needs to increase its employment rate to
at least 68.5% by 2010. The main driver behind the success of a
strategy to achieve this target lies mainly in increasing female
employment rates. The projected female employment rate for year
2010 in Spain is 58.9%, although the underlying assumptions,
particularly in relation to GDP growth12 , seem very optimistic. The
achievement of this ratio implies an annual average female
employment growth of 3.8%, which is also very challenging.
Finally, concerning employment among older workers, the most
optimistic projections in Spain foresee an average annual growth of
4.8% up to 2010. Still, this would not be enough at EU level to reach
the 50% target. This highlights the need for significant reforms if the
Stockholm target is to be reached, as the growth rates required are
again very challenging.
2.3. Unemployment rates
Unemployment rates among older workers have always been below
the average. The notable increase in the participation of older
workers over the last years has been accompanied by a steady decline
Figure 6:
Figure 7:
25
20
15
10
5
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26
24
22
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Total both sexes
45–49
50–54
55–59
60–64
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of their unemployment rate among this age group up to 2001.
However, the latter declined at a slower pace than total
unemployment rate. As a result, in 2002, the unemployment rate
among older women has already caught up with the total
unemployment rate13 .
The next two graphs show that the age group which appears to have
less difficulties is the oldest one, 60-64. They also depict different
patterns for men and women: it seems that, except for the 60-64
group, the older the men are, the greater difficulties they have, i.e. the
higher the unemployment rates; in contrast, the younger the women
are, the higher are their unemployment rates.
2.4. Participation and educational attainment
According to data provided by the Eurostat Labour Force Survey,
educational attainment in the Spanish population is well below the
EU15 average, although the gap is slowly narrowing. Still, the
difference in 2001 between Spain and EU15 in the percentage of the
population aged 25-64 having achieved at least upper secondary
education reaches 23.8 points (40.0% and 63.8% respectively). This
difference is still greater if the population over 55 is considered;
Total
Women over 45
Total over 45
Men over 45
1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
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0
1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
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0
1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
144 Spring 2003 | European Employment Observatory Review
25
20
15
10
5
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Total both sexes
45–49
50–54
55–59
60–64
12 GDP growth equal to 2.1% in 2002 and 3.1% afterwards.
13 Due to methodological changes introduced in the Spanish Labour Force Survey in 2001, the data for 2002 is not directly comparable with the previous years. The
comparison can be made just in terms of age and gender for 2002.
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