Seven out of ten small and medium-sized companies have difficulty finding the employees they are looking for

Supply and demand in the Spanish labor market do not match. When the country registers 2.8 million unemployed, employers insist that they cannot find the workers they need.

This time it has been the Spanish Confederation of Small and Medium Enterprises (Cepyme) that has launched an SOS in the face of the growing difficulties of companies in filling vacant positions.. A weakness that is especially weighing down medium-sized SMEs since their ability to grow and expand their workforce is diminished.

“Many companies lose projects, stop investments, close production units, give up when looking for professionals and can even affect the viability of the business,” says the report 'The challenge of vacancies in Spain', which highlights that seven out of Ten SMEs (71%) confirm having “problems” filling job vacancies.

The Cepyme study highlights that in 2023 there are 150,000 declared vacancies, positions that are unfilled or that are going to be offered, although they explain that the figure does not reflect all the employment needs of companies.. Even so, the ratio of vacancies to total employees is at record levels since vacancy statistics began in 2013.

Industry, services and construction

By sectors, both industry and services show the maximum vacancy/employee ratio since there are data. Construction, although not at an all-time high, also has a higher proportion of vacancies.. By activity, Extractive industries, Gas and electricity supply and Real estate activities, information and communications and professional activities are at the all-time high. They also exceed transportation, and finance and insurance.

Businessmen ask the Government for “multi-ministerial” action that involves all Administrations.

In this disconnection between the supply and demand of employment in Spain, “underlying demographic causes, cultural and social changes and educational reasons,” denounces Cepyme.. Hence, businessmen ask the Government for a “multi-ministerial” action that involves all Administrations.

The “inefficiency” of active employment policies

Cepyme also points out the “inefficiency” of the current active employment policies that, together with the depopulation of part of the country, the aging of staff in important sectors (the average age of employees increases four years from 2008 to now, going from 39.5 to 43.7 years), “the deficit in continuous training and technical and technological profiles” and the “bureaucracy to import foreign labor” are hindering the labor market and the development of the business fabric.

Entrepreneurs believe, however, that the main cause of the imbalance must be found in the lack of training, the lack of adequacy between training skills and the demands of companies.. Eight out of ten companies face a lack of qualified personnel. That is why Cepyme wants to “open a reflection” on the link between the labor market and the educational field, as well as the promotion of technological skills and continuous training.

According to businessmen, the thinned population pyramid and the university studies chosen by youth, more in humanities (22%) than engineering (13.9%), reduce the pool of eligible. Although they have confidence in the FP reform, its effects are not yet being felt in the hiring of intermediate positions.

But, in addition, the Cepyme barometer (PDF) reflects that employers have zero confidence in public employment services, in the SEPE, since they only use this channel for 10% of recruitment. “Personal contacts (45%), social networks and the Internet (28.38%) are the main ways used by SMEs to find their employees”. That is why they request a diagnosis of active and passive employment policies that can increase their effectiveness.

Consequences of labor mismatch

Meanwhile, they denounce that the labor shortage has the effects of lower production, a drop in turnover, stagnation of productivity, lower competitiveness of the Spanish company and greater difficulty in generational change.. “That is, the lack of workers is slowing down the activity of many companies.”

In Spain there are 1.1 million microenterprises (those with less than 10 employees) that employ 3.5 million people. In addition, there are 168,800 small businesses (they have between 10 and 49 employees), which employ another 3.3 million people. Both groups (1.3 million companies that employ almost 7 million people) represent 38% of the Spanish business park and private employment.