VASS and the Center for Economic Prediction CEPREDE, in their latest monthly TIC Monitor barometer, have concluded that the sector is living a few months of uncertainty before the news of the drop in billing and the dismissal of employees in large technological multinationals such as Meta, Twitter and Amazon. A climate of restlessness which, for the moment, is not shared among the majority of digital service companies in Spain, since 77% think that it will continue to increase its workforce between November 2022 and January 2023.
The monthly TIC Monitor barometer shows that the employability climate of the ICT services in Spain it rose sharply from +19.9 points in the last edition to +53.9 (on a -100/+100 scale), once again standing above the EU average (+30.4).
“In the coming months we will see if the workforce reductions in the digital giants will have a contagion on all Spanish ICT companies. Even so, the layoffs in large technology companies are due more to a downward correction in their business plans, strained by overvalued shares, than a general ruling on all the companies and institutions that are betting on their digital transformation. especially in Spain. It is a crisis of certain businesses, not of the new paradigm”says Antonio Rueda, director of VASS Research and head of TIC Monitor.
And it is that the expectations of the Spanish digital services companies are also positive with respect to their level of billing in the next three months, since the balance between those who expect growth in activity and those who fear a contraction in it is inclined to favor of the former in 68.4% of those surveyed. On a scale -100/+100 the business climate indicator stands at +36.8 points, a figure very similar to that of the previous month and higher than the EU average (+18.7). “We could conclude that Spanish digital services companies are twice as optimistic as their community counterparts, in terms of business developments in the short term”highlights Rueda.
Unstoppable growth in turnover and employability
The good business prospects among entrepreneurs in the digital sector in Spain are well-founded in some positive results of their turnover so far this year. Thus, the TIC Monitor for November has registered a growth of 21.4% in turnover between August 2021 and August 2022, this being the second best data in the historical figure of the entire barometer. In real terms, taking into account the effect of inflation, the sector grows 15% during 2022.
On the other hand, the evolution regarding the demand for specialized talent in the Spanish IT services sector it remains equally robust, with a year-on-year increase of 8.2%. This represents the largest increase in year-on-year terms in the entire historical series, as well as the 23rd month in a row with positive records.
“The digital services sector in Spain already has 39,000 more affiliates than in December 2021, and reaches 433,000 people employed throughout the country. The climate of uncertainty in large multinational corporations may have an impact in the short term on the expectations of Spanish businessmen, but the data we have at the moment makes us trust in the strength of the sector”ends Antonio Rueda.
