Similarly, the number of those aged 19 in higher vocational training (as a percentage of the total of those either enrolled in these programmes or at university) increased from 20% to 25% over the same period. 12  On Eurostat data for 2020, 24% of students in tertiary education in Spain are enrolled in a field related to the natural sciences, mathematics, statistics, information and communication technologies, engineering, manufacturing and construction, compared with 28% in the euro area. In the Global Innovation Index (WIPO, 2022), Spain is ranked 61 out of 109 countries by number of science and engineering graduates. 4  school students, according to the OECD’s PISA database. Improving in this area calls for better trained, more professional teachers able to teach based on best practices. 3 Longer working lives, which will be unavoidable given current demographic trends, increase the need for sufficiently skilled, versatile workers able to switch jobs and lines of work over their working lives, especially in a context in which certain professional skills are rapidly becoming obsolete and the cognitive skills of the older population are increasingly deteriorating.13 Having workers take part in lifelong learning will require combating job instability, lowering the institutional barriers to business growth and helping to ensure that the training on offer at universities and vocational training centres caters to the changing demands of the job market. 4 Education spending in Spain is slightly below that seen in the euro area (on average, 4.2% and 4.7% of GDP, respectively, between 2010 and 2021).
19  Article 26 of the Law on Market Unity provides a specific administrative appeal proceeding for defence of the rights and interests of economic operators by competent authorities. It also provides a procedure for agents to request the National Commission on Markets and Competition to file an appeal for judicial review before the National High Court by means of a streamlined process. Finally, Article 28 allows consumers to inform the Market Unity Secretariat about obstacles and barriers and request a report. 20  Ferraz, Finan and Szerman (2021) and Hebous and Zimmermann (2021). 21  Ilzetzki (2023). 22  García et al. (2022). 6  Against this background, the long-term macroeconomic impact of the Next Generation EU (NGEU) programme will largely depend on how tenders are allocated among different firms. Moreover, this will provide an opportunity to assess the extent to which Spain has improved the level of competition in this area. The fourth factor relates to labour market regulations. The Spanish labour market has traditionally had a high incidence of temporary contracts (a cause of low labour productivity in themselves),23 a wage determination process that takes little account of each firms’ productivity and ineffective passive and active employment policies. Since the pandemic, regulatory changes such as the 2021 labour market reform have been introduced which have reduced the temporary employment ratio. However, a full assessment of these changes will need to consider many different aspects and a broader time frame.