Spain has never had so many people employed at the beginning of a year as in the first three months of 2024, with 21.25 million workers. Additionally, the active population has increased to 24.22 million people, and the number of unemployed has dropped below three million, the lowest figure in a first quarter since 2008. The Spanish economy has shown great strength at the start of the year, with a GDP growth of 0.7% compared to the last three months of the previous year. However, the labor market has hit a snag in this same period: although the first quarter is typically negative due to the end of Christmas contracts and the low tourist season, this year unemployment has increased more than usual (117,000 unemployed compared to an average of 27,500 in the last decade), the number of employed has decreased by 140,000 people, and the unemployment rate has increased by half a point, reaching 12.29%. The evolution of employment in the coming months will reveal whether this is a temporary weakness or a more serious trend change.
In this context, trade unions gathered thousands of people in May Day demonstrations held throughout Spain under the slogan For full employment: reduce working hours, improve salaries. Gone are the years when demands focused on raising the minimum wage (which has increased by 54% since 2018) or reducing temporary employment, which has decreased to 15.7% but still maintains unacceptable levels in the public sector (29.5%). Some dysfunctions in the Spanish labor market necessitate a renewed push for social dialogue. The unemployment rate remains very high compared to our European partners. The subsidy reform, which included measures to make work compatible with benefits, aimed to reduce unemployment to European standards. Furthermore, by the end of 2023, companies had nearly 140,000 unfilled positions in an economy with 2.97 million unemployed.
The causes vary depending on the sectors. In agriculture, difficulties in filling vacancies are linked to low salaries and precarious agreements, as many Spanish seasonal workers go to France to work in the grape harvest each year. In the tourism sector, some areas struggle to attract enough workers because housing prices pose an insurmountable barrier to accessing those jobs. In other fields, companies struggle to find workers with the right qualifications, requiring changes in educational plans, in line with the reforms undertaken in vocational training. New technologies and artificial intelligence will only widen the gap between qualifications and demand, so addressing the new scenario early on is essential.
These challenges require a review of the labor framework and reflection on the duration of the working day without affecting productivity. Faced with challenges that are no longer in the future but in the present, and the need to consolidate a dignified employment landscape over time, combating precarity and high youth unemployment (27.7%) must also be a priority in social dialogue.
