What are the most difficult job vacancies to fill in Spain?

The Adecco Group Institute has published the first Labor Market Needs Report, based on its own data and a survey of more than 27,000 companies, addressing some of the mismatches that currently hinder job creation. The report provides information on the most difficult vacancies to fill by sector and autonomous community and considers it relevant (especially in a country like Spain with an unemployment rate of 13.3% vs. 6.8% average in the Eurozone) to search for solutions to maximize employment and ensure the supply of professionals that the labor market demands at any given time.

Main points of the report:

• According to Eurostat data (Job Vacancy Statistics), Spain is the country with the lowest percentage of vacant jobs (0.7%) compared to the Eurozone (3.1%). This figure, which represents around 134,000 jobs according to official data for the first quarter of 2022, could be positive, if it were not for the fact that the unemployment rate in Spain doubles the Eurozone’s (one out of every five unemployed people in the UE resides in Spain).
  
  
• Thousands of vacancies in various sectors: The largest supply of jobs at the national level is in the economic activity of "Transport and storage".
  
  
• The most difficult profiles to fill at the national level are: "Mechanics and machinery adjusters" and workers specialized in electricity and electro-technology. In both cases:

- The most demanded skills are "teamwork" and “resolution”.

- and the most required level of training for both is "Higher Vocational Training".

• Bachelor's and master’s degrees are also important for profiles related to the physical sciences, chemistry, maths and engineering, as well as to information technology and health (nursing, other biomedical research professionals, etc.).
  
  
• Low salaries are not the only reason behind unfilled vacancies: there are also no candidates for industrial or construction jobs with salaries around 40,000 euros/year.
  
  
• The report is in favour of attracting talent from outside our country. It is desirable to bring in non-EU professionals in any of its options: regularizing and qualifying those who already reside de facto in Spain, facilitating recruitment in origin, and relaxing the criteria for inclusion in the catalogue of occupations that are difficult to fill.