Attention! Mechanical and qualified professionals are sought for workshops in Spain. These words can be part of a job posting for any mechanical workshop operating in the country. However, few will be interested in it, because almost everyone with the necessary training to work in a workshop already has a job. This might be good news, but it’s actually a big problem. “There are not enough qualified professionals for our industry,” says Mario Pinilla, board member of the Spanish Confederation of Automobile and Related Repair Shops (CETRAA).
Pinilla, who is also president of the Associació d’Automoció (CETRAA Lleida), admits that this problem is “not new. It’s been going on for a long time” and we regret that this “has caused us to be unable to provide the right service to our customers.” Although it is easy to find training centers where mechanics are taught, “There are not enough professionals each year to meet the needs of the industry,” explains Pinilla.
CETRAA did not identify the exact deficit of professionals, but Rogelio Cuesta, the organization’s vice president, openly said in September that “if there were 2,000 more professionals tomorrow, they would have jobs.” Pinilla goes even further. «The unemployment rate in our industry is practically 0%. It is very interesting that young people under the age of 25 have an unemployment rate of 27% and they do not want to direct them to a sector like ours. Also, as CETRAA president Enrique Fontán says, “almost 100% of employment in the workshops is permanent” and, as Pinilla puts it, “there are no wage issues”.
But mechanics-related jobs lack the glamor that these advantages can bring. “A job that you’ll get dirty over time is sold as hard work,” Pinilla says. CETRAA’s board member insists that nothing could be further from the truth. “It is an industry that is technologically the latest and now comes the electric car. It is a profession that requires continuous development and learning, dynamism and a predisposition to continuous training».
They reiterate from CETRAA that the situation is worrisome and therefore launched two actions that will be completed in the future with further measures to meet the needs of the workshops. The first is to seek foreign talent. But this measure can be considered the bread of today and the hunger of tomorrow, and at CETRAA they know this because as their main long-term goal they want well-prepared local talent to cover the work in Spanish workshops.
To this end, they launched a program to make the mechanical job category visible as a highly attractive option for young people. Pinilla also explains that “we are constantly talking to education centers and government agencies to change what is being done now.” “It’s not that it’s done wrong,” he insists, “but it’s a bit out of place. Another problem we have is that we undertake to provide dual trainings with internships in workshops to train them according to the needs we have. The current training is good, but now our needs are different».
metallurgy
“We need people trained for both new technologies and historical trades that are at risk of being lost.” These are the two horizons that Vicente Lafuente, vice president of the Confemetal employers’ association, synthesized the professional shortage that an industry as heterogeneous as the metals industry currently demands. Not for nothing is the shortcomings in the profiles, Lafuente says, extending the care of facilities “where there are no elevator operators, gas or electrical installers” to more industrial ones like “private source”.
In this last niche, Rosa Benítez, head of Union Action of the UGT Industry Federation, points in the same direction, currently “people are not being educated” – as well as in “boiler making” – and “it is true that there are very few professionals,” admits Stadler of the rail industry. “They need a very high level of resources and these profiles are not easy to find,” the union leader emphasizes. Juan José Picazo, general secretary of CCOO Industria del País Valencià, adds that this is usually because “the few development prospects young people see in themselves” .
But not only in historical branches, reinforcements are needed in metal. Future industry 4.0 already demands technicians trained in computer science, robotics, home automation, renewable energies or additive manufacturing (making digital models a reality thanks to 3D printing) – Picazo and Lafuente agree. “We need them more and more,” says the president of the Valencian employers’ association. To prevent this absence from “continuing to hinder the development of companies and the inclusion of the youngest in the labor market”, Lafuente calls for allowing employers to “participate” in the design of the vocational training plan, thereby demonstrating “what issues”. or profiles are the ones that will have the most potential». However, this commitment to training should always be accompanied by continuing education within the company to guarantee the desired expertise – Benítez emphasizes.
Shoe
“To enter a shoe factory is to see a lot of gray-haired heads,” says Pedro Miralles, CEO of the Elche company of the same name, which has produced shoes in Elche since 1959. This statement reflects the industry’s concern over the growing difficulties in finding workers for an industry that, despite all efforts to modernize and digitize production, continues to conduct a large part of its processes in an artisanal fashion. . For example, difficulties starting to prevent some manufacturers from getting new production increases as the pandemic and logistical issues have caused big brands to move some of their orders to Europe.
“The problem is that the generational change is broken, young people don’t want to work in the industry anymore. They don’t see it as an opportunity to build a professional future”, complains Marián Cano, president of the Valencian Footwear Entrepreneurs Association (Avecal), an organization that has been struggling for some time to attract these new generations to different industries. to improve the training given in FP cycles for greater adaptability.
There is a lack of dressers, the professionals responsible for sewing the different parts that make up the shoe, but also no cutters, assemblers or toe-centers. All tasks that require significant experience and are traditionally learned in the factories themselves. Double FP is the great hope of manufacturers, but for now it still does not meet their needs.
“It’s not just a matter of education, there is some kind of cultural barrier that means young people are not interested in this type of trade,” says Luis Chico, CEO of Hispanitas, one of the industry’s leading firms. in this case it is located in Petrer, where more than 300 people work. “When you want to involve young people in learning, it’s very costly. You advertise and they don’t respond. It’s very difficult,” insists the businessman, pointing out that there are already producers having problems to increase production. “There are mid-high-end brands that manufacture in Asia and want to return to Europe and see that it is not easy. Production capacity is not as high as it was a few years ago,” explains Chico, who believes the only way to reverse the situation is to value the industry and show young people that this is a job with a future. | DAVID NAVARRO
Building
Construction companies in the Region of Murcia will be the first to use the new path opened by the Immigration Regulations reform to hire workers in their home country. The Regional Federation of Construction Employers of Murcia (Frecom) has signed an agreement with an agency dedicated to recruiting for the search for masons in Latin America.
As Frecom general secretary Alejandro Zamora reported, construction companies chose to resort to this formula as an alternative to obtain the workforce they could not find in the Region labor market. His intention is to “start the process of recruiting Latin American workers from origin, primarily from Peru, but also from Ecuador or Bolivia”.
According to estimates by employers in the region, Murcian companies in the sector currently need around 3,500 skilled professionals, but calculate that the implementation of European Next Generation funds will increase staffing needs to 25,000 workers in the coming years.
The agreement between Frecom and the Yoempleo agency reveals that both parties will “seek and select candidates for later submission to associated companies.” They will also carry out the legal administrative procedures so that the ultimately selected candidate can work regularly in Spain.
Across Spain, national employers of the construction industry anticipate that 700,000 professionals will be required to carry out the planned projects that must be financed with European funds.
Consisting of employers and trade unions in the industry, the Construction Labor Foundation will be responsible for the training of workers recruited in their country of origin.
In the Region of Murcia, this institution has trained around 1,500 workers in recent years, but has the capacity to double the total number of students, as Alejandro Zamora explains. He also pointed out that even qualified professionals who may come from Latin America should receive special training, as they need to know, for example, “prevention of occupational risks practiced in Spain”.
Until now, the recruitment of origin workers was used for temporary activities in the agricultural sector such as the Huelva strawberry harvest.