Spanish women workers, the most overqualified in Europe

BrusselsThe rate of workers Spain's overqualified population has been reduced, but it remains the European state with the highest number of people with a higher level of education than required for their jobs, especially women. The state's percentage has fallen from 35.8% in 2023 to 35%—the largest drop on record—and remains well above the average for the European Union and the countries in the single currency, which remain at 21.5% and 22.6%, according to the report published Tuesday by the institute.

As for the percentage of overqualified female workers in the State, it is still higher than that of men. Last year it was 35.8%, while the Eurozone average was 23.6% and the European Union average was 22.2%. However, Spain is one of the countries where the gender gap in this regard is smallest and is accentuated in countries such as Italy, where the rate for women is up to 7.7 percentage points higher than that of men, Slovakia (6.4 points), and Malta (5.3). In total, in 21 of the 27 member states of the European Union, the overqualification rate for women is higher than that of men.

After Spain, the country with the highest rate of overqualified workers is Greece, which reaches 33%, and Cyprus, which reaches 28.2%. Among the major European economies, those with the lowest percentages after Spain are Italy (21.7%), France (21%), and Germany (18.9%). At the bottom of Europe, however, are countries like Luxembourg, which does not reach 5%, and Croatia and the Czech Republic, which remain at around 12%.

Meanwhile, the percentage of the working population aged 20 to 64 in the European Union has reached its highest level since 2009, reaching 75.8% last year. This represents an increase of half a percentage point compared to 2023, totaling 197.6 million workers. The highest percentages in this regard were recorded in the Netherlands (83.5%), Malta (83%), and the Czech Republic (82%), while Italy, Greece, and Romania have the lowest. Spain is also clearly at the bottom, at 71.4%.