The Youth Council of the Canary Islands presented this Tuesday in a press conference the results of the latest Emancipation Observatory corresponding to the first semester of 2024, prepared by the Spanish Youth Council (CJE), which shows an alarming decrease in the rate of youth emancipation in the Canary Islands, which stands at 15.4%, with a drop of 3.67 percentage points compared to the same period in 2023.
The event took place in the assembly hall of the Multiple Uses Building II of Gran Canaria and was attended by Eliana Parrilla Morín, president of the Youth Council of the Canary Islands; Javier Muñoz, head of Socioeconomics of the Spanish Youth Council (CJE); and Manuel Mejías, research technician of the CJE.
The study shows a significant setback in the emancipation rate of the young Canarian population -percentage of people living outside the home of origin over the total of their same age- and indicates that about 13,000 people under 35 have returned to depend on the family home in just one year, marking the worst data for a first semester since 2021.
The price of rent, which has increased by 13.6% in one year, is one of the main factors that prevent residential independence. Currently, a young salaried person must allocate more than 100% of their net salary just to rent a home, without counting other expenses such as supplies. In the sales market, access does not improve either: it takes four years of full salary to pay an average down payment.
Temporary jobs, underemployment and overqualification
In the labor field, the Canary Islands is the fifth autonomous community with the highest rate of youth unemployment (23.1%), which aggravates the economic vulnerability of the young collective. Despite this, more than half of those who are working do so in conditions of temporality, underemployment or overqualification.
In her speech, the president of the Youth Council of the Canary Islands stressed that "three out of four employed young people are still at risk of poverty, with the Canary Islands being one of the five regions with the highest unemployment rates in the country. Therefore, we propose a series of urgent measures: we ask that in the first Comprehensive Youth Plan that the Government of the Canary Islands is preparing, there be a specific section for the promotion of youth emancipation and youth employment".
Likewise, Parrilla stated that "we also need greater public investment to guarantee affordable prices and guarantee the representation of young people in decision-making. The Canarian youth wants to move forward and from the Youth Council we are open to advising the Administration, because either we bet on the Canarian youth or we will have no future".
For his part, Javier Muñoz, from the CJE, indicated that "young people do work and do make an effort, but having a job is not a guarantee of emancipation. Housing is currently not a right and we do not see that an effective and real policy is being made to address this problem. The young rental voucher is not working, it is necessary to reform it so that it adapts to the reality of the housing market and the needs of young people. Young people are not full citizens, in the sense that we cannot develop our vital project with minimal guarantees of the future, due to precariousness".
The report also highlights that renting continues to be the main route to emancipation (59.7%), followed by free housing assignment (19.3%) and shared flats (31%). In addition, emancipation is more frequent among young people who come from other communities or from abroad, compared to those born in the Canary Islands, who barely reach a rate of 11%.
X-ray of the Canarian reality
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The emancipation rate in the Canary Islands (15.4%) is slightly above the state average (14.8%), but registers one of the most pronounced falls in the country.
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The median expenditure of young Canarian households in a rental regime was 767 euros in 2023 (the last year for which data is available), the equivalent of 40.6% of the net income of a young household in the Canary Islands. In addition, more than half of these households are over-indebted after paying for their usual housing.
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A young salaried person needs to allocate 103.6% of their salary to rent, without counting supplies, which shows that solo emancipation is practically unfeasible.
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The Canary Islands is the fifth autonomous community with the highest rate of youth unemployment. The difference with the state average is more than 3 percentage points.
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Young people born in other autonomous communities or abroad have emancipation rates higher than 34%, while those born in the Canary Islands stand at 10.9%.
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With respect to emancipation according to the province of residence, it is observed that the proportion of young people who have left their home of origin is higher in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (22.27%) than in Las Palmas (9.43%).
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59.7% of emancipated young people live in rented accommodation at market price, while 19.3% reside in homes given free of charge and 31% share a flat.
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For access to a free home in property, a young person in the Canary Islands needs 13.8 years of full salary, one of the highest figures in the State.