In Lleida, young people still face major barriers to leaving home and building stable careers, according to a follow-up report by Segre that revisits a 2006 study on youth emancipation and work.
The original report looked at economic independence and job contracts for university students. Segre later reconnected with Laura López and Adrià Pujol, who were featured in the 2006 article when they were studying a Higher Level Training Cycle in tourism information and commercialisation in Lleida.
Their paths show how limited local opportunities can shape where young people live and work. Pujol had hoped to become a tourist guide in Rivera Maya, but later moved to England with his partner because of the lack of jobs in Lleida. He now works as a sports equipment manager for Torres de Segre Town Council. López studied tourism and wanted to work in hotel management, but said the pay in Lleida made that difficult. She now lives in Zaragoza and works for a Japanese multinational consultancy.
Both said in 2006 that they wanted to live alone before turning 30. López did move out at 19 after finding a good job while still studying, but the wider picture has become harder for many young people. According to the Generalitat, fewer young people are unemployed, but many jobs do not allow them to improve their situation or move out of the family home. The government says 57.7% of young people are currently studying, and emancipation tends to rise only after studies end.
Across Catalonia, the emancipation rate has fallen since the 2008 crisis, dropping from 30% in 2010 to less than 15% in 2021, according to the Generalitat. It later rose to 19.3% for people aged 16 to 29 by mid-2025, before falling again by 1.4 percentage points. The same data says eight out of ten young people still live with their parents. For more Catalonia-wide coverage, see news.
Job insecurity remains part of the problem. In 2006, young workers were often offered so-called rubbish contracts, with too few or too many hours, low pay and temporary terms. Pujol said studies help, but do not provide security, and argued that some university specialisations do not lead to viable careers in Lleida. He said people leave because of the job market, and added that tourism studies in Lleida do not offer the same opportunities as sectors such as agriculture.
Generalitat data from the first quarter of 2026 shows that 29% of working young people do not live in the family home. Even so, a stable job does not guarantee emancipation, as only 33.5% of salaried young workers live alone in Catalonia. The Council of Ministers approved the draft law on the Statute of Persons in Non-Labour Practical Training in the Business Sector, known as the Intern Statute, in early March. More background on youth work trends is available from the Catalan Statistics Institute and the Catalan government labour department.
