Public Forced to return to their parents' house due to the coronavirus crisis: "My generation and those who come are doomed"

madrid

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Alejandra de la Fuente / Amanda García / Jaime García-Morato

The economic crisis caused by the coronavirus has particularly affected young people, shooting up the youth unemployment rate and placing Spain at the head of the European Union. In fact, although young people up to 34 years of age barely made up 25% of all wage earners, they accounted for more than half of the dismissals in March 2020 when the state of alarm was established, due, among other things, to the high temporality index in which it is found in this range of population. The large number of layoffs has meant that many of the young people who had managed to become independent have had to return to their parents' house keeping not only their clothes and books in their suitcase, but also their business project. life.

In fact, in July 2020, only 33.5% of people between the ages of 16 and 29 were employed, according to EPA data. Now, workers over 50 have already recovered the level of employment they had before the pandemic, a situation that contrasts with that of young people under 25, who have lost one in four jobs they had during the crisis. , according to a report by Asempleo, a large company dedicated to temporary work.

Starting life again

Ot Ramón (27 years old) worked in a call center (telephone call management center) in Barcelona for the Airbnb Costumer Service project as a supervisor and had been independent since the 2017. Specifically, before the pandemic broke out, he lived alone in a 25-square-meter apartment, paying a rent of 675 euros plus expenses. In the midst of the outbreak of the covid Ot he was fired from his company the second week of March 2020 and, although he managed to find a job to go to work in Greece, after a few days he was notified that in the end he was not allowed They hired due to the pandemic situation.

"I ran out of money with one hand in front and the other behind"

"Since I had found a job in Greece, I approached the SEPE office to say that I no longer needed unemployment because I was leaving the country, but when they notified me that finally they were not hiring me, the state of alarm was already in place and I could not go to claim unemployment, so I was left without money with one hand in front and the other behind. I had zero income, but debts from the university, from the apartment, I had to pay for the electricity for the following month... So I had to run to my parents' house," he told Público.

Ramón explains that it was "very hard" to have to return. "It's like a defeat, you are seeing your colleagues, the people around you, who are not getting it and you are and suddenly it falls. My parents knew that I was not at my best moment and they supported me a lot", narrates. After trying his luck in Spain, he got a job in Portugal doing something very similar to what he was doing in Spain and he currently lives and works there, earning 18,000 euros a year, but without paying residence because the company provides housing for all its employees.

Worse luck than Ramón Valle (29 years old) and his partner have had. They both worked before the arrival of the coronavirus and had such stable jobs that they decided to look for a baby, without success. A few months later, they both lost their jobs and had to return to their respective parents' houses because they couldn't find work and the bills were drowning them. They currently live apart and are looking for a way to meet again.

Young people doubly punished

Having to return to their parents' home is something that millennials (born between 1981 and 1993) already knew. In 2008, when the crisis began to destroy jobs, there were young people who found themselves with nothing and had to return to their parents' house, when they had barely been enjoying their own lives for a long time. Now, some of these young people have had to relive what happened more than ten years ago, as is the case of Patricia, who managed to become independent in 2010 (at the age of 23), but in the year 2012 she had to return to her parents' house because she was fired. And it started again in 2020, when she was fired again due to the crisis derived from the pandemic and had to return to her parents again.

"I realize I've never had job stability"

"I used to live alone, but just before the pandemic started I met a guy. When they fired me, I went back to my parents' house, but after a few months this boy and I decided that I should go live with him while I looked for a job. At the moment I keep trying, but things are not easy at all. The truth is that it is terrible because with these things I realize that I have never had job stability, you realize that my generation and those to come are doomed,", explains Patricia.

The 'boomerang' generation

"The lives of many of these people can be compared to that of a board game board"

Psychologist Laura Pérez explains to Público that millennials They are called the 'boomerang generation',because many young people return home after becoming independent, something that is also affecting other younger generations such as generation Z (born between 1994 and 2010). "The life of many of these people can be compared to that of a board game board, there are some who have to go back to the starting square and this can cause them a lot of frustration because they are already adults, with their lives done , and they have to depend on their parents again".

Pérez says that the fact that they have to return to their parents' house can significantly affect their self-esteem, since many feel that they have failed. "This can be reflected in an aggressive way, through anger , which can lead to problems in coexistence," he says. However, the psychologist encourages those who suffer from this situation not to fall into self-destruction and take it as "a stop on the road" to save money and even make a mental stop. "You have to take it as a step back to gain strength, like a bump, but never believe that it is the end."