• Working conditions or the lack of generational replacement make it impossible to fill some vacancies

• Although the latest Labour Force Survey (EPA) marked a new employment record at the close of 2025, with an unemployment rate below 10%, there are still jobs that are difficult to fill in Spain. What is more, 2 out of every 10 vacant positions are practically impossible to fill. Some of the professions with extreme difficulty in finding workers include bricklayers, cooks, nurses, family doctors, waiters, and caregivers

This was stated by the SEPE ‘Occupations Observatory’, which in its analysis detected that the number of vacancies in these professions has been increasing in recent years, from 56,000 in 2014 to over 152,000 at the end of the third quarter of 2025, according to the latest data from the quarterly labor cost survey published by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

These numbers do not exceed 1% of the job openings and are lower than the European average of 3%, as detailed by the observatory, which also highlights that a third of these vacancies are in the public sector, with up to 80% of the unfilled positions being the responsibility of the Public Administration since they belong to the care sector.

In this breakdown of jobs left vacant, normally 2.1% are filled without difficulty, while 79.3% are difficult to fill and 18.6% are considered impossible to occupy.

WHY SOME JOB VACANCIES ARE HARD TO FILL

According to the SEPE, this situation is largely due to the lack of generational replacement, resulting from an aging population, and the lack of acceptance of certain working conditions. This occurs especially in sectors such as construction and hospitality. The mismatch between company needs and worker training also plays a role, particularly in medium and high-skilled jobs.

Hospitality, construction, healthcare activities, and transport are the areas where the greatest imbalance between labor supply and demand is observed. The agricultural sector also stands out, insisting on the need for immigrant labor. This contrasts, according to SEPE, with the fact that many Spaniards choose to move to the French grape harvest, where they find better working conditions.

This reality also clashes with the high number of unemployed people, which reached 2.47 million at the close of 2025 according to the Labour Force Survey (EPA). However, the observatory highlights that many unemployed citizens show reluctance to accept low-skilled jobs.

GECCO PROGRAMS

In 2025, a total of 25,767 migrant workers were able to work in Spain thanks to the collective management of recruitment in origin program (GECCO). This is a record figure, higher than the more than 20,000 participants registered in 2024 and the 19,000 in 2023.

These programs, which started more than twenty-five years ago, are based on the joint processing and granting of residence and work permits for non-EU foreigners who are not located or residing in Spain.

Morocco accounted for 81% of the recruitments carried out last year. Nine out of ten corresponded to women, with an average age of 43, employed mainly in agricultural holdings.

THESE ARE THE HARDEST VACANCIES TO FILL

Another option that allows companies to search for workers outside of Spain is the catalog of hard-to-fill occupations, prepared quarterly by SEPE. This list is published in the Official State Gazette (BOE).

This list identifies those positions where there is a clear shortage of available professionals in Spain, allowing companies to resort to hiring foreign workers through a more streamlined procedure, as it is considered that there is insufficient local labor to meet those needs.

The SEPE Occupations Observatory itself warns in its 2025 annual summary that the labor mismatch particularly affects sectors where demand continues to grow, such as transport, hospitality, construction, or certain healthcare activities. In these areas, the difficulties in finding staff are explained by both the lack of specific training and the rejection of working conditions considered unattractive.

Furthermore, the report notes that some occupations show significant increases in hiring, reflecting that they remain highly sought-after profiles. Among them stand out non-specialized nurses, construction electricians, salaried drivers, industrial machinery operators, or freight transport laborers, professions that concentrate high turnover and structural coverage problems.

In this context, the catalog functions as a legal path to bring in workers from outside Spain for positions where the internal market fails to meet demand, especially in strategic activities with persistent personnel shortages.

SECTOR OF HARDEST PROFESSIONS TO FILL

Merchant navy: Sailors, merchant ship pilots, ship radio officers, engineers, naval mechanics, boatswains.

Hospitality and catering: Cooks, waiters, kitchen assistants, ship stewards.

Healthcare and care: Non-specialized nurses, hospital nursing assistants, home care workers.

Construction and building: Construction electricians, electrical installers, metal carpenters, crane operators.

Transport and logistics: Salaried drivers of cars, taxis and vans, freight transport laborers, unloaders.

Manufacturing industry: Food machinery operators, metal structure assemblers, slaughterhouse workers and meat industry workers.

Elementary occupations: Cleaning staff in offices and hotels, domestic workers.

Sports: Coaches and professional athletes.

Source: Noticias trabajo