Balearic teens: 62.5% expect better jobs than parents

In the Balearic Islands, 62.5% of teenagers expect to have a better job than their parents by the time they are about 30. Another 20.6% expect to be in a lower-ranking occupation, while 16.9% think they will be at much the same level.

The figures come from the latest Focus on Spanish Society report by the Funcas research institute. It also finds that 83.9% of teenagers across the archipelago already have a clear idea of their career prospects at around 30.

High hopes at 15

The study draws on the 2025 PISA report, which asked 15-year-olds what occupation they expected to have at 30. Because it also records their parents’ occupations, it can measure the social mobility they expect — in everyday terms, whether they believe they will move into jobs above or below their family’s starting position.

Across Spain, 60% expect to do better than their parents, while 21% expect a lower position and 19% foresee a similar one. Spain sits close to Portugal, where 62.8% expect upward movement, and Italy, on 60.2%.

Optimism carries a warning

Héctor Cebolla, from Funcas’s Directorate of Social Studies, said PISA records teenagers’ hopes rather than the jobs they will eventually secure. If expectations repeatedly outstrip their families’ social starting point and some are not met, he warned, today’s optimism could become frustration later on.

The gap between Spanish regions is wide. In Madrid, 49% expect to move into a better occupation than their parents, compared with 68% in Andalusia. Expectations of doing worse run in the opposite direction: 25% in Madrid and 17% in Andalusia.

Once the study accounts for the different social positions in which families start, the regional gaps narrow but remain. Adjusted expectations of upward mobility range from 57% in the Valencian Community to 63% in the Basque Country; Madrid rises to 60% and Andalusia falls to 61%.

Topics: Economy

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com