Spain wants to recruit more foreigners to address labor shortages
MADRID, June 3 (Reuters) – Spain is considering easing work visa rules for foreigners to address labor shortages in key sectors of its economy, the minister said on Friday. Social Security and Immigration.
The tourism, agriculture, construction and technology sectors are affected, which could threaten the country’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are in the process of evaluating the different aspects of the immigration law and seeing where it can be improved (..) in order to remedy the bottlenecks in the Spanish labor market”, has said José Luís Escrivá.
The tourism economy is rebounding strongly, but companies are struggling to recruit waiters and hotel staff, according to reports from trade organizations and S&P Global.
S&P Global’s surveys of manufacturing purchasing managers released on Friday show that while demand from the services sector rose in May, recruitment issues weighed on business activity.
Labor shortages are also threatening multibillion-euro projects funded by the European Union to revive Spain’s economy, the hardest hit in the euro zone by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although the unemployment rate remains high, the number of unemployed in Spain in May fell below three million people for the first time since the economic crisis of 2008.
Spain has immigration deals with countries including Morocco, Ecuador and Colombia and launched a new pilot program with Honduras earlier this year, sources told Reuters. (Report Belén Carreño, written by Christina Thykjaer; French version Diana Mandiá)