It is one of the discussions in which companies and the Ministry of Labor maintain a most discordant position. Whether or not there is a problem of unfilled job vacancies in Spain, if companies have difficulties finding the labor they need. Businessmen complain about the difficulties they encounter, especially in a country with such a high level of unemployment, while the ministry replies that the percentage of vacancies is one of the lowest in the European Union.
Today two new pieces of information have appeared on the board of this discussion. On the one hand, the Quarterly Labor Cost Survey of the INE, which indicates that in the third quarter of this year, the number of vacancies rises to 155,797, which is 5% more than in the previous quarter, and the highest figure elevated since the series began in 2013.
Going into detail, it appears that it is in Services where the vacancies are concentrated, with 90% of the total, followed at a great distance by Industry and Construction. And also another interesting point, 93% of companies claim not to have vacancies because they do not need any more workers. If the distribution by territory is examined, 56% of unfilled vacancies are concentrated in Madrid, Catalonia and Andalusia.
The second data known today is the Bank of Spain Survey on Business Activity (EBAE), which indicates that 42.5% of companies declare having difficulties in having labor available, which is four percentage points more than the previous quarter. The problems are especially concentrated in hospitality and construction, as well as agriculture, in which more than 50% of the companies are declared affected.
However, the Ministry of Labor is also right when it points out that at a European level, the Spanish vacancy rate, which is 0.9%, is one of the lowest. Eurostat data show a big difference with respect to the euro zone average, which is 2.9%, and also from the countries where this problem is most pressing, with Belgium in the lead, with a rate of 4 .7%, followed by the Netherlands (4.5%), Austria (4.2%) and Germany (4.1%).
The reasons for the vacancies can be found in the lack of suitability of the candidates to the characteristics of the required jobs, this is where the employers insist the most; as in the level of salaries offered in some sectors, such as the hospitality industry, and this is the argument that most work insists on.
