Silicon Valley doesn’t know what to do with so many unemployed engineers. Spain does not know where to get what it needs

The global technology sector has been facing a kind of roller coaster very conditioned by AIin which while in some corners of the planet there is a commitment to destroying employment in this sector, in other countries it is created at a frenetic pace and even a scenario of staff shortage skilled.

Since mid-2022, Silicon Valley has not stopped destroy technological jobs. On the other hand, in Spain the trend is just the opposite, and this sector has not stopped growing at a notable rate, being the exception among advanced economies.

Global downward trends. A recent analysis by economist Brendon Bernard for the employment platform Indeed in Canada confirms that job offers in technology have slowed down in countries like the US and Canada.

This change occurs after a crisis caused mainly by the pandemic and the collapse of the metaverse, which caused rounds of massive layoffs in large technology companies and drastic cuts between 2022 and mid-2023. The appearance of ChatGPT and the AI ​​fever managed to stop the downward trend in the sector’s offers, but the initial boost that AI seemed to give has stalled and technological employment in the world has not recovered its 2022 levels.

Spain follows its own path. As and how they stand out in The Economistamong all this downward trend in technological employment in advanced economies, one stands out that marks a totally opposite path: Spain.

Bernard’s study highlights that, while large advanced economies such as the United States (-34%), the United Kingdom (-41%), France (-38%) and Germany (-29%) reduce the number of technological job offers compared to their pre-pandemic levels, countries such as Singapore, Spain and Australia draw a graph in the opposite direction, creating new job offers at a double-digit rate.

Technological employment in Spain. In Spain, technological employment is growing rapidly. According to data According to the Cotec Foundation for Innovation, 494,000 new positions have been created in technological activities since 2013, of which approximately half (about 240,000) have been generated after 2020.

The weight of technological employment over total employment is especially high in communities such as Madrid (10.5%), Navarra (10%) and Catalonia (9%). On the other hand, regions such as the Balearic Islands (2.7%) or the Canary Islands (2.2%) have a lower concentration of technological job offers.

Lots of supply, but much more demand. In fact, the rebound in the Spanish technology sector faces a serious challenge: staff shortages. According to the report HR Trends 2024‘ prepared by Randstad, more than 30% of companies reported difficulties in finding qualified talent in digital areas, which causes certain positions to take months to fill.

This generates tensions in the technological labor market and increases competition by the professionals available. The Cotec Foundation report indicates that the growth in technological employment is based largely on programming, consulting and computing, which account for nearly 80% of the employment generated since 2020. To give a concrete example, Randstad data indicates that, during the third quarter of 2024, employment among programmers in Spain registered an increase of 16.4%.

Demand reaches universities. According to the report’The Future of Talent in Artificial Intelligence and Data in Spain‘ prepared by INDESIA, in 2023 5,000 job offers in AI and data science were left unfilled per lack of trained candidates. The education system can only train about 6,000 new professionals annually in these areas, while demand is increasing.

Núria Ávalos, general director of INDESIA, explained to The Country that “many grades are now emerging, but until these people are in a position to take on positions such as a data architect there are a few years left”, which exacerbates the gap between supply and demand. In response, companies and universities are exploring joint training models, where companies themselves become training centers to urgently cover this need for qualified talent.

What AI gives you, AI takes away. Despite the good figures for technological employment in Spain, it is inevitable to observe the United States labor market as a canary in the mine that reveals where the trends in the futureand has already begun to give the first signs.

While it is true that the arrival of AI stopped the decline in employment, as AI gains skills in programming and basic tasks, it is also promoting job automationwhich reduces the number of necessary technological employees, especially among those who just begin their working career.

We are seeing a clear example in the latest layoffs from large technology companies, where not only are “accessory” positions for an approach whose objective is the development of AI, but engineers who until now are being fired they were developing that AI.

In Xataka | Big Tech doesn’t stop firing its engineers. At the same time, they have stepped on the accelerator in hiring

Image | Unsplash (Fatemeh Rezvani)