The association of small and medium-sized companies Cepyme opened a conference this Monday to warn of the “huge problem” of unfilled vacancies in Spain, the president of the organization, Gerardo Cuerva, emphasized in his opening speech. The leader of the employers’ association explained that the problems of companies in finding employees can be explained by many reasons, such as the lack of training of workers, the depopulation of many areas of the country, the “bureaucracy” of bringing in foreign personnel. And, even because of social assistance, which prevents entry into the labor market. Nor on salaries, which Cepyme does not even mention among the main reasons.
The president of Cepyme presented the main directions of the research carried out on this topic by the employers’ association itself, led by the organization’s head of research, Diego Barceló, which included more than 200 studies. 1.3 million small and medium business employees.
According to this, the vacancy problem is widespread, with seven out of ten companies reporting that they have problems finding employees. Cepyme believes that the official data on the matter published by INE does not reflect the true magnitude of open positions, a reality that they consider “difficult” to measure.
Official figures indicate that Spain has the highest vacancy rate, with around 150,000 unfilled positions, at 0.9%, which is again a limited figure in the European context, with an average of 2.7%.
Wages appear in the survey, not in the survey
Wages are top of mind when it comes to choosing jobs and unions, and the Ministry of Labor cites them as one of the main reasons for unfilled positions (along with training problems). However, in Cepyme they practically do not include them as a relevant factor in their study.
“The mismatch between labor supply and demand has various causes, such as the ineffectiveness of active employment policies, the population size that affects much of the country, the aging of the workforce, especially in some large sectors, and continuing training and technical shortages. and technological profiles, various kinds of social changes, the bureaucracy required to import foreign labor and the policies hindering inclusion in the labor market,” the employers’ association emphasizes in a press release.
The full report lists salaries but discounts them as vacancies. “The greatest average age [de los trabajadores] This is usually accompanied by higher salary expectations, although currently companies do not specify salary levels as a relevant issue when filling vacancies,” the study said.
It is surprising that the employers’ own survey cites as the second reason for not finding workers as the impossibility of the working conditions requested by the employees, which the person in charge of the study, Diego Barceló, links to salary issues. . In addition, another 15.6% of respondents specifically stated that workers “are not compensated by salary offers.”
“We cannot be a subsidized country”
Gerardo Cuerva ignored wages as a relevant element in the “enormous problem” of vacancies, which is manifested primarily by the lack of training of workers and also the depopulation of the population in several areas of the country, according to him. In addition, the business leader emphasized social assistance and demanded that Spain not be a “subsidized country”.
“I want to ask a question. We notice a divide between social policy and active employment policy; There’s something that doesn’t work if we don’t get workers employed. We cannot be a subsidized country, but we must train our workers to find work. Beware of this clear and obvious disconnect between social policy and active employment policy,” said Cepyme’s president.
The report states that “the disconnect between active and passive employment policies often reduces the incentive to take up work, an aspect that is particularly detrimental to certain activities that are intensive with unskilled labour”. The author of the study was also influenced by the fact that “a lot of state aid” is the problem of having vacancies.
Barcello noted that there are “many anecdotes” in sectors such as hospitality and small businesses where employees allegedly make “two conditions” to employers: “pay in B so you don’t lose benefits” and “work part-time.” Also don’t add too much income that would take away your eligibility for this help.
Source: El Diario
