As the Spanish economy recovers, rethinking education reform should be a top priority. Spanish workers are Europe’s most overqualified, but also suffer from the greatest skill mismatch, lacking the skills necessary for their jobs.
The free movement of workers across Member States is one the main historic achievements of the European integration process. Not only is such freedom important from the individual worker’s perspective, dramatically increasing the scope of potential employment opportunities. In a situation of uneven economic development, such mobility has also proven to be an important mechanism as a free-market regulator.
Higher state pension ages are not only possible (given longer life expectancy) and desirable (given the fiscal costs of state pensions) but later retirement should, in fact, lead to better average health in retirement.