Employers claim 2.5 million vacancies while unemployment exceeds 3 million

Employers claim 2.5 million vacancies while unemployment exceeds 3 million

The president of CEPYME, Ángela de Miguel, has stated on TVE that there are two million and a half unfilled vacancies in Spain, and that SMEs have 'huge difficulty hiring.' This statement, made in the context of the debate on immigrant regularization, has sparked controversy. The figure directly clashes with official unemployment data, which exceeds three million people out of work. The question remains: where are these vacancies, and why aren't they being filled?

The reservation wage: the variable employers ignore

The missing economic concept is the reservation wage—the minimum salary below which a worker is unwilling to accept employment. The most frequent criticism in economic analysis is that employers seek cheap labor without considering raising wages or reducing the tax and bureaucratic burden faced by SMEs. It is argued that many of these vacancies involve temporary contracts lasting three or six months, with salaries close to the minimum wage (SMI), in low-productivity sectors where technology cannot replace human labor.

Housing: the invisible barrier blocking labor mobility

Another factor emerging strongly is housing. With average rents exceeding 1,200 euros per month in major cities, accepting a job in another province becomes a financially ruinous operation. The calculation is brutal: a worker earning 1,300 euros per month who must relocate to a city where rent consumes half of their salary loses money every month. Labor mobility, under these conditions, is an illusion. Historical comparison is revealing: four decades ago, a flat cost the equivalent of 25 average salaries; today, with an average salary of 1,300 euros, that same proportion would allow the purchase of a home for 32,500 euros—something unthinkable in today's market.

The 'labor reserve army' and the illusion of regularization

The proposal to link immigrant regularization with employment generates a deeper debate. Some argue that the arrival of foreign labor without strict controls does not solve the underlying problem; rather, it creates a labor reserve army that depresses wages. Furthermore, immigrants' training does not always match the skill requirements of the available vacancies. It doesn't attract talent; it attracts low-cost labor. The suspicion that the true goal is to make the factor labor cheaper, rather than filling productive positions, hangs over the entire declaration.

The gap between narrative and reality in the labor market

While employers insist on a lack of workers, job portals show a different reality: for every mediocre offer, there are hundreds of candidates. The paradox is that the Spanish unemployment rate remains among the highest in Europe. The only conclusion possible is that the problem is not a lack of labor, but the quality of the conditions offered. The lingering question remains: if there truly were two million and a half productive vacancies with decent salaries, wouldn't they already be filled?