The leading technology companies are mostly immersed in a wave of layoffs, mostly in the United States. Companies like Meta, Amazon, Dell, GitHub, PayPal, Microsoft, IBM or Zoom have been laying off thousands of employees for months, and announcing new waves of layoffs, which has caused a major earthquake in the sector. Meanwhile, in Spain, the downpour seems not to affect technology companies so much. In fact, many are hiring and creating jobsand technical profiles are still missing in numerous areas.
As appears in a report from the Scaleup Spain Network program, presented in December 2022, only last year the sector was planning to create some 850,000 jobs, both direct and indirect, in Spain. Of all companies of this type that hired employees, 94% of them directly hired skilled workers.
This figure is no less than 60% higher than the number of jobs they created in 2021, with the largest increase. of positions among the scaleups that invoice between 1 and 10 million euros. This improvement in employment for them is due to the fact that these are the companies that have the longest track record in terms of growth in the short and medium term.
Scaleups are companies that have already passed the startup phase in which they were during their birth and first years of life, and that are now in the midst of expansion, growth and reaching new markets. In preparing the report, 119 scaleups have participated, which in total have raised 6,936 million euros of financing, and which plan to raise another 2,317 million euros in the coming years, especially from Spain and Europe, especially in the early stages. . In the larger funding stages, the investors are usually European and American.
The regions of Spain in which these companies have the greatest growth forecast are Andalusia, Galicia and the Valencian Community. During their first years of existence, these companies focus more on product development, internationalization and capital raising. But when they reach a certain degree of maturity, after these phases, their main problem becomes attracting talent, and increasingly qualified personnel.
This report is not the only one in which it is pointed out that the technological sector in Spain is currently an important source of creating qualified jobs. Some even warn that in Spain there is a shortage of talent and qualified personnel with sufficient knowledge in certain technological disciplines. It is the case of a report by DigitalES, from mid-2022which warns that in Spain there were then more than 120,000 unfilled jobs in all technological sectors.
Another study, the quarterly ManpowerGroup Employment Projectioncorresponding to the first quarter of 2023, considers that although Spanish companies in the sector have reduced their hiring forecasts compared to those they had in the previous quarter, they still believe that their level of hiring will increase by 8%.
In fact, it is the IT sector that presents the best expectations for job creation in Spain for the coming months, according to this data, followed by Logistics, Transport and Automotive, with a forecast increase in hiring of 5%, and financial, with a forecast increase in contracting of 4%.
As for the large technology companies that have recently announced layoffs and their impact in Spain, there is the case of Microsoft. As confirmed by his President in Spain, Alberto Granados, during their participation in the Forum Europa breakfast, organized by the New Economy Forum on January 30, the layoffs are going to reach Spain, but affecting areas and projects in which they have disinvested. Meanwhile, in others they will continue hiring in Spain.
Thus, Granados assured that the company plans to build three data centers in Algete, Meco and San Sebastián de los Reyes, projects that will generate nearly 50,000 jobs. In addition, they are going to reinforce the staff of the AI center that Microsoft has in Barcelona. For said center, they are going to hire about 100 more employees.
This manager has also given his impressions on the situation of the Spanish market in relation to the development of technology companies. For him, the main brake that these companies have in Spain, above the economic situation, is the need to train specialized professionals with whom to cover the current and future demand of the sector.
