The improvement in youth employment has not translated into more residential autonomy in Catalonia. Although youth unemployment has decreased in recent months, eight out of ten still live with their parents and only 29% of those who work have left the family home.
The gap appears clearly when comparing work and emancipation. The youth emancipation rate fell from 30% in 2010 to less than 15% in 2021, rebounded to 19.3% in mid-2025 among young people aged 16 to 29, and then fell again by 1.4 points, despite the Generalitat de Catalunya noting lower unemployment in this group.
Laura López and Adrià Pujol left tourism for salaries and lack of opportunities in Lleida
The contrast was already apparent two decades ago in Lleida. In March 2006, a report focused on the economic independence and labor contracts of young people documented the experience of Laura López and Adrià Pujol, then 19 and 21 years old, students of a Higher Vocational Training Cycle in tourism information and marketing in the city.
Laura López managed to become independent at 19 after finding a good job midway through her studies, but she ended up leaving the tourism sector. She then moved to Zaragoza, where she works for a Japanese multinational consultancy.
"I let it go because with the job I had, I was doing well, and if we talk about salaries, it was very difficult to live off tourism" - Laura López
In her case, the professional change responded to a limitation that went beyond the first job. Laura López adds that tourism is not a very good sector in Lleida, an idea that aligns with the youth labor precarity described then, based on insufficient or excessive working hours, low wages, and contracts with expiration dates that prevented saving.
Adrià Pujol also ended up moving away from the career path he had trained for. He moved to England due to the scarce local job offer and now works as the manager of sports facilities for the Torres de Segre City Council.
"Studies help, but they don't provide security" - Adrià Pujol
Adrià Pujol linked that move to the Lleida labor market. He explained that studying tourism in the city did not offer the same prospects as other sectors, such as agriculture, and maintained that he does not regret having pursued those studies, although he does regret having done so in Lleida.
Youth unemployment falls, but only 33.5% of salaried workers live alone in Catalonia
Current data maintain that distance between employment and autonomy. 57.7% of young people are in training and emancipation begins to grow once studies are finished, but that step does not guarantee by itself the ability to access housing.
At the end of 2025, the unemployment rate among those under 25 years old in Spain stood at 19.1%. In March, 23% of young Catalans were unemployed, although the Generalitat de Catalunya points out that this percentage has been decreasing in recent months.
Even among those with stable employment, leaving the family home remains limited. In the first quarter of 2026, only 29% of young people who work did not live at their parents' home, and among salaried workers, the proportion of those who live alone remained at 33.5%, also with a permanent contract.
The relationship between study, employment, and precariousness has remained present in various labor reforms. In 2010, CEOE activated a temporary contract for young people that allowed them to combine work and studies, but that format also did not facilitate the necessary savings to become independent.
At the beginning of March, the Council of Ministers approved the draft law of the Statute of persons in non-labor practical training in the company, known as the Intern Statute. The most recent data from the Generalitat de Catalunya places the proportion of employed young people who no longer live in the family home during the first quarter of 2026 at 29%.