The Ministry of Labor is clear. One of the causes of the flight of workers that is taking place in restaurants and hotels in tourist areas is low wages and exhausting hours that prevent family reconciliation.
“Some of the vacancies that are occurring in specific territories in the hospitality industry have to do with not paying enough, there are no breaks, the days are exhausting and workers cannot reconcile personal life with family life,” said this tomorrow the Secretary of State for Employment, Joaquín Pérez Rey. Faced with such a problem, the solution is in sight, according to the secretary of state: “pay properly, comply with breaks and working hours, and allow family reconciliation. When this happens, I am sure that the vacancies will vanish like foam”.
The diagnosis made by the Ministry of Labor is that in Spain there is not a generalized problem of vacancies, but rather an issue focused on some sectors and some territories. General data shows that the number of vacancies is relatively low, 109,000 vacancies in a labor market of 20 million. According to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, in Spain there are 0.7% vacancies; a percentage well below the European average of 2.5% or the 3.8% of Germany.
What they assure in the ministry is that there is neither a generalized problem of vacancies nor is there the phenomenon of the "great resignation", the trend that began in the United States in the second half of 2021, by which workers leave their jobs. I work voluntarily to find better opportunities. It is a very American phenomenon and for the moment, nothing Spanish.
As far as vacancies are concerned, the problem in Spain, without being generalized, affects some specific sectors such as hospitality, construction and transport, and in the most qualified fringes of areas such as systems analysis, virtual reality or Artificial intelligence.
To deal with the problem in these sectors, Labor and the social agents have agreed this morning to draw up a map to identify the problem areas. "To have a map of where these problems are occurring," said Pérez Rey, although it is already evident that in the case of the hotel industry, the problems are centered on some towns on the coast and with a lot of tourist pressure. Territories where this same pressure raises the price of housing, placing it at levels that are too high for workers who earn the minimum wage.
The unions share the diagnosis that the cause of the vacancies lies in the working conditions. “It has to do with the labor and union conditions that exist. There are constant breaches of collective agreements”, said Mari Cruz Vicente, from CC.OO. “We have to make an effort to improve conditions”, added Mariano Hoya, from UGT.
On the other hand, the employer disagrees with this analysis. It considers that the vacancies that occur have nothing to do with working conditions, and that they are due in any case to training that is not adequate to the needs of the market that does not provide workers with the required skills. "There is not a general problem of vacancies", indicate these sources who also add that "if there are specific situations of non-compliance, they must be reported". To draw the map of vacancies, employers have already launched a survey among their associated companies to identify where the problems are.
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