The mental health of young people has become a growing concern. Even before the covid-19 pandemic, scholars were calling young people’s mental health a global public health challenge (Patel et al., 2007). The pandemic simply magnified that pre-existing trend. 

However, the literature on the determinants of young people’s mental health is limited (Gray et al., 2021). One of the possible explanations put forward is the concentration of labour precariousness among young people, which might challenge their capacity to leave home and their family of origin and their ability to achieve their desired goals in life. The present study explores the hypothesis that precariousness is a determinant of mental health among young people through a study based on a survey and a focus group held in 2023 across the entire territory of Spain and concentrating on young people (20-34 years old). 

The following sections will present the main findings from the 3,012 respondents participating in our study. This is the global number of respondents. Some answers may be missing in the results of each figure shown. We introduce each section through the words of our interviewees. Names are pseudonyms.
 

“Precariousness is being in a loop when you are young. I am 24 years old, and I feel as though I have to be like this all my life; I will not achieve anything” (María, 24)

Intersectionality perspectives are based on the idea that axes of inequalities (such as those based on age, class, gender, sexuality, or ethnicity) do not operate in isolation, but in interrelated and more complex ways. The ways in which they interact affect how different young people suffer different social risks (Acebillo & Maestripieri, 2023). As such, difficulties in the labour market are not distributed equally across the young population. Age, gender, and migrant background shape young people’s experiences of precarious labour. While a substantial proportion of the under-30s are students in either full-time (28.6%) or part-time (19.2%) study, for the over-30s, the most frequent situation is that of working only (58.3%). We find that people with a migrant background are more frequently employed in casual contracts and gig work (12.3% for migrant men aged under 30) or have multiple jobs (18.8% for migrant women aged under 30) than those who are Spanish natives or over 30 years old. Involuntary non-standard employment is diffused across all our groups but is especially concentrated among the native population aged under 30 years (with women more exposed than men). That said, there is a relevant rate of people not in employment, education, or training (NEET): in our population, it is about 8.3%. Among men and women with a migrant background, this rate is even higher, namely about 15% and 12%, respectively.

However, labour precariousness is a complex matter. In analytical terms, it is divided into an objective component – having a contract that deviates from the Standard Employment Relationship (SER), which is a full-time permanent dependent contract – and a subjective component – feeling precarious in your life (Maestripieri, 2024). Interestingly, while there are significant variations in types of jobs or working conditions among young people, variations in feeling precarious are comparatively small across the previously mentioned groups. Women aged under 30 years and non-binary people feel the greatest precarity.

“Precariousness is a way of feeling incomplete. It feels as if I am always out of breath while trying to reach something, and I can never do everything I want or even a minimum part” (Juan, 34)

In our sample, 31 % of our interviewees showed a potential risk for depression or anxiety – as measured by the WHO5 scale promoted by the World Health Organisation. 
When trying to explain what influences the mental health of young people, the feeling of being precarious is the most significant factor in explaining poor mental health. Remarkably, the type of contract through which the person is employed does not show a significant relationship to mental health. Only among those with multiple jobs, is there a slight reduction in the risk of being exposed to poor mental health.

Among the dimensions we have considered in the previous section (gender, age, and migrant background), only gender has a significant effect: women are more exposed to poor mental health than men and non-binary people. Age, having a migrant background, or living in a rural area are not significant factors when explaining poor mental health. We also found that suffering from poor physical health or having a disability impact a person’s mental health. 

People self-scoring 7 or more on the precariousness scale have an average score of 55.1 on the WHO5 scale, while those who feel less precarious score 43.6 on average.

“Precariousness is an empty bag, never having enough and never being able to fill it, whether with time, happiness, or money” (Javier, 34)

We asked our survey respondents what precariousness means to them, and their answers surprised us: the meanings associated with precariousness encompass more than simply experiencing poor working conditions or having temporary contracts. Only 28.1% of our sample define precariousness as having a job with insufficient income and/or poor working conditions, and just 1.6% define it as lacking job opportunities. Our respondents perceive precariousness largely in economic terms, defining it as an inability to afford housing independence (9.7%), to access basic needs (23.8%), or to live a dignified life (4.5%). Others describe it as living below the minimum (5.3%) or experiencing insecurity in both work and life in general (8.8%). 

The formulation of all these aforementioned definitions is close to what a recent and lively scholarly debate has defined as economic insecurity (Cantó & Romaguera-de-la-Cruz, 2023): the subjective perception of being unable to access sufficient resources for a decent standard of living. Economic or financial insecurity is conceptually different from poverty, as it is more than simply not reaching a predetermined income threshold. It focuses on the perceived insecurity that respondents feel regarding their resources.

“Precariousness is having a monthly wage of around 1,000 euros that makes it impossible for you to have any savings, or to buy or rent a flat without any help from your family” (Milagros, 34)

Of our sample, 63.6% of young adults have experienced at least one dimension of economic insecurity in the past two years, having to make adjustments or request support to meet their needs. Economic insecurity at the individual level is a phenomenon that is unequally distributed across social groups, following the trends we have previously highlighted for labour precariousness. For example, men with a migrant background are more likely to have experienced being helped by NGOs (10%), being forced to change accommodation for economic reasons (about 15%), and being helped by their family or friends (33%) compared to Spanish people. Migrant women are also vulnerable to economic insecurity shown, for example, by reducing their basic goods consumption (16%), reducing their energy consumption (27%), and delaying going to the dentist (28%). While there is a generalised trend for all groups to reduce their standard of living for economic reasons, it is more pronounced for migrant women and non-binary people. Also, people under 30 years old, migrants, and non-binary people are less able to make an unexpected payment of 700 euros without help. Among the most vulnerable groups, economic insecurity has meant returning to live with their parents or not being able to start the education they wanted. In our sample, 40.6% of the young people interviewed stated that they suffered a health issue because of economic problems, such as feeling anxious or anguished, having difficulties sleeping, or suffering a physical health problem. Migrants and non-binary people are the most exposed to this phenomenon.

Families offer protection against economic insecurity. Those who still live with their family or live as a couple are less exposed to phenomena such as not making ends meet, arrears in bills, or being unable to make payment – as a household – of an unexpected expenditure of 700 euros. Housing costs pose a heavy burden for about 4 out of 10 young adults in our sample, regardless of their household composition.

“Precariousness is feeling like your life never really starts” (Beatriz, 34)

Recent years have been extremely challenging for the economic security of young people. First, the social and economic consequences of the pandemic, then the difficulties resulting from the Russia-Ukraine war, and subsequently the rise in inflation have increased families' exposure to economic insecurity. 

Respondents who feel extremely precarious have suffered more from the current unfavourable macroeconomic context compared to those who feel less precarious. For those who feel extremely precarious (scoring 7 or more on our scale of subjective precariousness), inflation (64.1%) and energy costs (65.3%) have represented an important determinant, challenging the economic security of their families more so than for those who report lower levels of subjective precariousness (respectively: 56.9% and 56.5%). Housing costs (41.5% vs. 24.4%) and low income from work (42.2% vs. 16.8%) are also important challenges for those who feel more precarious in our sample. Although the covid-19 pandemic may be part of the past, it still impacts 18.9% of the households in which the people who feel most precarious live, compared to 14.5% among those who report lower levels of precariousness (scoring 6 or less in our scale of subjective precariousness).

This article shows the importance of focusing on the subjective perception of precariousness when studying the mental health of young people and its relationship with their jobs. It is not having a precarious job that matters, but feeling precarious in job and life. In fact, precariousness for our respondents has a meaning that goes beyond having a bad job. It relates to their capacity for accessing a decent standard of living and having enough resources to cover the costs of an independent life (housing, food, energy). Recent crises, such as the high/increased energy costs and rising inflation, have impacted on the perception that our respondents have of precariousness. Our results also demonstrate that labour precariousness and economic insecurity are unequally distributed across social groups, but feeling precarious is a shared experience among all young people in Spain.

Our study shows the importance of studying precariousness and economic insecurity as determinants of poor mental health among young people in Spain. It also calls for the development of support policies that target young people, enabling them to be sustained throughout the difficult process of gaining their independence from their families.

The study has been conducted mostly online, with only 210 interviews that were held face-to-face in five areas of the province of Barcelona. The sample is skewed towards high-educated respondents, as is commonly the case with online surveys. As such, online data collection might have reduced our capacity to collect information from among the more vulnerable profiles. As we are not aiming to offer representative data of all young people in Spain, but merely to describe emerging trends among them, we did not weigh our results: this would have implied certain respondents having more impact on the results than others.

A second limitation regards the cross-sectional nature of this research. Precariousness is a processual phenomenon that occurs over time, and evolves as people acquire experience in the labour market. For future research, we recommend conducting longitudinal studies – especially in consideration of the impact of the recent labour market reform that has supposedly improved conditions for Spanish workers.

We acknowledge the support of Carlos Delclós Gómez Morán and Tarik Bergese throughout the development of this report.

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CANTÓ, O., & M. ROMAGUERA DE LA CRUZ (2023): «Economic insecurity and poverty», en J. Silber (ed.): Research handbook on measuring poverty and deprivation (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar).

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