Spain, like several other EU countries, is grappling with labor shortages, a recent report by the European Labour Authority has revealed.
Food service, manufacturing, healthcare, IT and agriculture emerged among the affected sectors, VisaGuide.World reports.
According to the 2023 EURES report on shortages and surpluses, the following roles were identified among occupations facing shortages in Spain:
- Fast food preparers
- Mixed crop and livestock farm laborers
- Paper products machine operators
- Electrical line installers and repairers
- Agricultural and industrial machinery mechanics and repairers
- Healthcare assistants
- Information and communication technology user support technicians
- Database and network professionals not elsewhere classified
- System analysts
- Health professionals not elsewhere classified
- Physiotherapists
- Dentists
- Nursing professionals
- Specialist medical practitioners
- Telecommunications engineers
By 2053, Spain Will Need an Additional of Nearly 25 Million Foreign Workers
As cited by Europa Press, the Bank of Spain has estimated that Spain will need 24,673 million more foreigners of working age by 2053 due to the ageing population.
Furthermore, the recent report by the Bank of Spain noted that migration has limited capacity to significantly slow the population ageing process.
In particular, for the dependency ratio in Spain to remain constant over the next 30 years, the foreign-born population of working age would have to be three times larger than anticipated in the latest INE projections.
This implies that foreigners who belong to most in-demand professions and wish to work in Spain may have a higher chance of securing employment and a Spanish work visa.
Spain Has Highest Unemployment Rate Among EU CountriesA
As of April 2024, the unemployment rate in Spain was 11.7 percent, the latest statistics by Eurostat revealed. With such a percentage, Spain ranked as the EU country with the highest joblessness rate.
However, statistics indicate that the unemployment rate in Spain has seen a decrease over the past months.
After Spain, other EU countries with higher unemployment rates were Greece (10.8 percent), Sweden (8.5 percent), Finland (8.3 percent) and Estonia (7.8 percent). Meanwhile, the overall joblessness rate in EU27 was six percent, while in the Euro area was 6.5 percent.
Romanians Dominated the Spanish Labor Market in 2022
The number of foreign workers in Spain reached 2.5 million in December 2022, according to the country’s Social Security.
As further revealed, the main sources of foreign workers in Spain that year were Romania, Morocco, Italy, Colombia, and Venezuela.