# Spanish labor market and employment challenges > Live situation record from CLSTR: https://clstr.news/situations/spanish-labor-market-and-employment-challenges > Updated: 2026-09-19T10:42:56.000Z. Sources: 5. Developments: 2. Spain is experiencing significant challenges within its labor market and recruitment processes. Data from Eurostat indicates that the country has one of the highest overqualification rates in the European Union, reaching 34% in 2025, which is notably higher than the EU average of 21.4%. This reflects a mismatch where individuals with vocational training or university degrees are working in roles that do not require their level of education. Parallel to these issues of professional misalignment, the public employment sector is facing difficulties with candidate performance and exam integrity. In certain regions, failure rates for primary education competitive exams have exceeded 87%, with examiners reporting deficiencies in basic skills such as reading comprehension and grammar. To combat cheating, recruitment processes, such as those in Galicia, have implemented strict security protocols involving technology to detect radio frequencies and electromagnetic fields. ## Timeline ### 2026-09-19: Spain public employment exams face high failure rates and strict security Public employment exams in Spain face high failure rates due to poor linguistic skills and are implementing advanced anti-cheating technology to secure recruitment processes. 2 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/spain-public-employment-exams-face-high-failure-rates-and-strict-security ### 2026-09-04: Spain faces high rates of worker overqualification Spain faces high levels of worker overqualification, with 34% of employees holding skills exceeding their roles, significantly higher than the EU average of 21.4%. 3 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/spain-faces-high-rates-of-worker-overqualification --- Cite as: Spanish labor market and employment challenges. CLSTR, https://clstr.news/situations/spanish-labor-market-and-employment-challenges