Half of the hospitality companies have difficulties finding labor in this second quarter of 2022, which represents an increase of 13 percentage points compared to the situation of the first three months of the year. The lack of labor is a problem detected especially in the hotel and catering sectors and in tourist and coastal areas this year and which is now highlighted once again by the survey of Spanish companies on their activity in the second quarter of the year carried out by the Bank of Spain.
INE data show that in Spain there are 109,000 unfilled vacancies. In global terms, it is a very small percentage, the lowest in the European Union, only 0.7% of all jobs. But, the problem appears when discovering that these unfilled vacancies are concentrated in a prominent way in some specific sectors such as the hotel industry.
On the reasons for this lack of labor in these sectors, there are discrepancies. While both the Ministry of Labor and the unions point to low salaries that do not compensate workers, more so if they have to face the high rents in tourist areas; Employers insist on the lack of specific training for the positions that are required.
The survey of Spanish companies on their activity in the second quarter of the year carried out by the Bank of Spain once again points out this problem. Specifically, in addition to the hotel industry, where vacancies account for almost 50%, there are also 45% of construction companies that perceive that the shortage of labor negatively affects their activity, which is 4 points more than in the previous quarter; and the shortage also occurs in the information and communication and transport sectors. In the companies as a whole, 28% suffered from labor shortages, a slightly higher percentage (1.4 pp) than in the first quarter.
It is also true that the hotel industry is the area in which turnover is increasing the most during the second quarter, benefiting from the end of the restrictions associated with the pandemic and the reactivation of tourism. In addition to the hotel industry, turnover also increased significantly in transport and leisure, two other areas highly affected by covid, as well as in the information and communication sector, which has shown positive behavior since the start of the crisis sanitary.
As a whole, the companies surveyed are experiencing an increase in their aggregate turnover in the second quarter, although not as pronounced as what they expected three months ago. 29.7% of companies have seen their sales grow, slightly above the 27.1% of the previous quarter, and also approximately a third of the companies anticipate that they will increase their turnover during the third quarter of the year.
Regarding the costs of intermediate consumption and sales prices, the survey shows that the high inflationary pressure continues. The vast majority of companies, 76.8%, state that they continue to suffer an additional increase in the prices of their productive inputs, although this percentage is 5 points lower than three months ago, which could indicate that inflationary pressures are beginning to refer. This incipient slowdown in costs is general, with the exception of construction and the hotel industry where, on the contrary, they intensify.
Regarding the cost of energy, it negatively affects almost 80% of the companies surveyed, in line with the percentages of previous quarters. Difficulties in receiving supplies from regular suppliers also remain at a similar level. Almost a third of the companies declare that they suffer supply difficulties, especially in the area of manufacturing, where the proportion reaches 50%, with increases also in construction and transportation. In addition, there are more companies that now calculate that these problems will last until the end of the year. Almost half anticipate it.
