The Ministry of Labor and the CEOE usually disagree on the resolution of problems, but with regard to job vacancies, they do not even agree when it comes to determining whether there is a real problem or not. Where the employer denounces a serious deficit, and embarks on studies such as the recent one by KPMG which points out that 75% of companies have difficulties filling vacancies; Yolanda DÃaz’s team argues that, according to the INE, in the fourth quarter of 2022 there were only 140,000 vacancies in Spain.
“There is no problem of vacancies, neither in the global figure nor by sector”, argue from Treball, and to affirm the thesis they use the Quarterly Labor Cost Survey (ETCL) of the INE, which concludes that in by the end of 2022 there were only 140,000 vacancies, when 4.1 million contracts were registered. In addition, the same survey indicates that in the hospitality industry, one of the sectors in which the lack of staff is most pointed out, in the same period there were only 4,100 vacancies, when 602,000 contracts were registered.
At Treball they accept that there may be specific problems, but that “with such devastating data there is nothing to justify that there are no workers in the hospitality and construction industry”, and here they point to low wages as the last reason for this lack of candidates for certain positions.
It is not at all the position of the employer, which has shown its concern because in sectors with high unemployment figures there is a growing unsatisfied demand for personnel, such as in construction or services. This week the National Confederation of Construction (CNC) characterized as one of the challenges faced in 2022 the lack of qualified personnel in construction, the progressive and alarming aging of the workforce and also the lack of generational relief, which collides with high youth unemployment rate.
The unions argue that there is no shortage of workers, but better wages. “It’s a problem of salaries and support”, explains Patricia Ruiz, federal secretary of the UGT, with reference to the work of public employment services, which she considers inefficient in linking vacancies with potentially interested workers. The trade unionist denies that there is a widespread problem, and downgrades it to a few vacancies that are difficult to cover in the hospitality industry and construction.
This discordance of positions is largely fueled by the lack of an adequate statistical index. “We have a problem with statistical information to calibrate the true impact of job vacancies”, explains Raymond Torres, from Funcas. In this sense, it is considered that the INE Quarterly Labor Cost Survey does not offer a clear definition of vacancy, without specifying, for example, whether it is a free job or a position provided for in the future, which takes away its reliability.
“There are three factors that determine vacancies. The first is what the employer argues for the lack of suitable profiles; the second, that of the unions, with wages that are not attractive enough, and the third, an inefficient labor intermediation”, says Raymond Torres, to add that “there is a lack of prospectors in the employment offices” who dive into the job market in search of of potential vacancies. In the employment offices “there are counselors, but not prospectors”, adds Torres.
