Spain | Deficit of workers in construction: causes and consequences

Summary

Construction happens to be one of the sectors most heavily affected by labor shortages. While higher wages and immigration are helping to bring talent into the sector, structural problems persist that require a solution.

Key points

• Key points:
• As a BBVA Research report shows, since 2020 unfilled vacancies in construction have doubled.
• According to Eurostat’s consumer and business survey, the main concern among builders is the labor shortage, despite the rising cost of materials and interest rates.
• Part of the problem comes from the “resizing” that the sector has undergone in the last 15 years. Construction once had around 14% of the employed population, but since 2014 this percentage has continued to hover at between 6% and 7%.
• Certain market mechanisms are helping to correct this situation. One of them is the increase in wages. Between the end of 2019 and the first quarter of 2025, the average wage per employee grew by almost 46%, the largest increase among all the sectors included in the Quarterly National Accounts.
• Immigration growth is helping to counter the imbalances in the labor market. We may be seeing a turning point in the aging of the labor force, due to the entry of foreign workers in certain professions.

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