The income of young people has fallen by 10% since the crisis, while that of those over 65 has risen by 8%.

BarcelonaWith an increasingly aging society, younger people also have little room to improve their situation. There are fewer of them than decades ago, and they also have lower-paying and less stable jobs, and they can't find a place to live at a reasonable price.

Since the economic crisis that began in 2008, the income of young Spaniards has fallen by 10%, while that of those over 65 has grown by 8%, according to data compiled by the General Council of Economists of Spain (CGE) and the Foundation for Economic Studies of Economics. Across the population as a whole, income has risen by 3%.

This is one of the various gaps that increasingly separates different generations, but it is not the only one. Only 43% of young people can access housing—compared to 70% two decades ago—and the age of emancipation is now over 30.

But it also affects youth unemployment, which is among the highest in all of Europe, and those between 20 and 24 years old earn 45% less—about 15,400 euros—compared to the average state salary—28,000 euros. "Current pensions are well above low wages," summarizes the deputy director of Fedea, José Ignacio Conde-Ruiz. For the expert, young people should have a voice in the discussion about pensions so as not to jeopardize their future. We should also support ensuring that for every additional euro allocated to older people, it is replicated for younger people.

With these lower incomes, when they have them, the current tax burden doesn't help young citizens either. "They don't pay more than other groups, but it requires a greater effort," maintains Raquel Jurado, a tax specialist at the CGE. For example, in the case of VAT, those under 35 are those who allocate the largest percentage of their income to paying it—7.7%—a proportion that decreases over the years, according to data published by Eurostat.

To top it all off, working conditions are worsening compared to previous generations. Thus, the temporary employment rate stands at 60.5% for those under 30, and half of young people sign involuntary part-time contracts. "Two out of five young people work in precarious conditions," emphasizes Mar Villares, a CGE advisor on labor issues.

A brake on productivity

When people talk about all these problems, they often fail to consider that all of this also impacts the economy. Someone who doesn't know whether their contract will be renewed after the holidays or whether the rent will go up this year will find it harder to concentrate on work and, financially speaking, be more productive. All this uncertainty also ends up worsening wealth redistribution and widening existing generational gaps.

For Conde-Ruiz, "any policy that improves productivity is a policy that favors young people." Traditional mechanisms for achieving this include investing more in training and R&D or increasing savings. But the expert also advocates increasing job security and housing availability for young people. These are ways to rebalance the intergenerational contract, which could lose even more ground with a prioritization of defense spending.