Although there is a situation of technical full employment in Mallorca, there is also the concern expressed by different sectors of the labour market - a shortage of employees, especially those with the necessary qualifications.
César Amable, the president of the PIMEM Restaurants Association, speaks for many other employers. The underlying reason for the shortage is "the prohibitive cost of living". Workers don't wish to come to Mallorca, while those who are here want to go somewhere else.
Amable insists that it is not really a question of lacking specific types of qualified worker. "It is that we lack everything." In his sector, as he explains, around 15,000 chefs and waiters are needed in Mallorca during the winter, but the number in summer shoots up to 100,000. "It used to be the case that workers came from the mainland for the season, but many no longer do so because of the prohibitive prices in Mallorca. If we don't do something about it, we will kill the goose that lays the golden egg."
He is highlighting a seasonal issue that affects both private and public sectors. Until recently in fact, the annual complaints about seasonal shortages and the difficulties with attracting people to work in Mallorca in summer mostly came from the public sector - for example, security forces, additional staff for the courts, and nurses.
But Jordi Mora, the president of the PIMEM federation of small to medium-sized business associations, points to a problem that exists across the board and not just in the summer. "A professional reinvention that many people sought because of the pandemic, better working conditions, greater personal fulfilment, rapid economic recovery, increased prices; these have all aggravated the problem.
"There is a lack of qualified and unqualified workers, especially in the service sector. But it also exists in industry and agriculture and fishing. This happened in Ibiza some ten years or so ago. We didn't think it would happen in Mallorca. But the structural problem regarding access to housing, added to the school early dropout rate in the Balearics (one of the highest in Spain), makes it impossible for companies when it comes to hiring."
Mora points to shortages such as electricians and carpenters. Workers with the best qualifications are enticed by companies with greatest financial wherewithal from those with the least. Job offers are made with "very competitive conditions". He adds: "Improvements in wages and collective agreements can't alleviate the increase in the cost of living on the island."
In the health sector, the Simebal doctors union says that up to 10,000 well-trained doctors leave Spain each year in search of better conditions in European countries. It's a problem that is accentuated in the Balearics. "The high cost of living leads professionals to go elsewhere, even if salaries are much the same. This results in the situation we have - a shortage of 800 doctors in the whole of the Balearics." The union has already let the new government know about this and is calling for an increased health budget in order to improve conditions and to attract and retain professionals.
7 comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
Ulla JacksonYou are, in theory, right. The problems arise when the Balearic government doesn’t see eye to eye with the National one, or vice versa.
Richard PearsonI thought a government has a responsibility to do what's best for the island as a whole not just for the voters. I obviously got it all wrong. Which is in my view the government need to shut up and stop complaining about this subject every year.
Same shit different year.
Ulla JacksonIf I were a cynic, I would say that it’s because very few of them have the right to vote.
If housing is the main problem why is the government not doing anything practical about it rather than just talk about it and constantly complaining. It's the same record over and over.
Looking at the photo, surely there are people on the Island who are skillful enough to pour water into a glass 🤦🏻
There’s no sustainable economic plan for the Balearic Islands. Just short term political posturing. I’m tired of hearing mindless rhetoric but no action.