In 2022, the Spanish job market continued to evolve along the positive trend set in the previous year. Figures from the State of the Job Baket in Spain in 2022 report by InfoJobs and Esade reveal an 18% increase in the vacancies posted on the job portal InfoJobs (419,802 up on the previous year). In all, almost 2.7 million vacancies were posted by companies – the third highest figure in the entire historical series and very close to the 2.8 million recorded in 2019.

The year 2022 also broke records in terms of job hunters: 3.7 million people applied for vacancies and a total of 125.1 million applications were submitted. These figures are unprecedented in the 24-year history of InfoJobs and closely related to two key factors in the analysis of the job-hunting side of the 2022 labor market: higher hopes of finding a job and the associated high mobility and turnover, as explained in said report, and the new mindset and lifestyle priorities of the active population.

All in all, the evolution of employment opportunities in 2022 – in terms of vacancies advertised in InfoJobs – also reflects a slowdown in the pace of growth over the months: the figure for the last quarter of the year was virtually identical to that of the same period in 2021. The impact of economic, geopolitical and social uncertainties — with inflation and the war in Ukraine being the main but not the only variables involved — has contributed considerably to this situation. 

Besides this general framework, many other important changes to the job market in 2022 are reflected in InfoJobs figures, including particularly the implementation of the employment law reform and its impact on types of contracts; the diversification of employment opportunities at a time of employment growth; difficulties in filling certain tech positions; the upturn of the tourism sector and its impact on different regions; and the decline in the purchasing power of professionals in Spain.

“A significant percentage of job opportunities in Spain is channeled through InfoJobs: we mirror what’s happening in the job market and this is the landscape presented in this report,” explained Mónica Pérez, head of Communication and Surveys of said portal, at the presentation of this report including the results of the different employment indicators that the platform gleans from the activity of companies and candidates, and also the main trends in the employment world, and an assessment of future employment challenges.

“Despite the fact that the economic and geopolitical context of 2022 was not positive, the job market gave signals of robustness with more than 20 million persons making social security contributions by the year end,” said Pedro Aznar, professor of Economics, Finance and Accounting at Esade. “The future of the Spanish labor market will be shaped by expectations regarding the evolution of the economy marked, in turn, by inflation, the monetary policies of central banks, fuel prices and the conflict in Ukraine.”

Upturn in tourism and hospitality job opportunities

The employment landscape of 2022 was apparently very similar to that of the previous year, at least as regards the industries with the most vacancies: sales and marketing (452,674 job offers, 17% of the total), purchases, logistics and warehouse (319,224, i.e. 12%), customer service (302,028, i.e. 11%), professions, arts and crafts (265,920, i.e. 10%), and tourism and hospitality (251,416, i.e. 9%). Other industries with more than 100,000 vacancies were computing and telecoms, engineering and technical fields, and business management.

But some details deserve a closer look. Firstly, against a backdrop of increased employment with growth in almost all sectors, the fact is that marketing and sales vacancies were lower in 2022 than in 2021 (38,055 fewer or -8% to be precise). In addition, the jobs advertised on InfoJobs were increasingly diversified: the combined weight of the three sectors accounting for the most vacancies each year fell from 67% in 2013-2014 to barely 40% in 2022. This reflects the societal shift over this decade: the widespread use of the internet for staff recruitment by companies of all sorts and sizes.

Computing and telecom: jobs outside the world of IT 

For ten years now, computing and telecom has been the industry posting the most vacancies on InfoJobs. In 2022 it ranked sixth with a total of 187,233 vacancies in the last period analyzed, i.e. down 6% on 2021. In a global scenario featuring waves of layoffs by big tech companies around the world (with a moderate effect in Spain), job offers have remained virtually unchanged.

In addition, the digital transformation of businesses has prompted an influx of IT professionals into other areas, as reflected by the vacancies on InfoJobs. A few years ago, the vast majority of IT positions were concentrated in the computing and telecom sector, but today it’s not unusual to find them in other industries.

Madrid, Basque Country and Catalonia. Leaders in job offers

Madrid (791,662 vacancies in 2022, 29% of the total) and Catalonia (578,199, i.e. 22%) are once again the autonomous regions offering the most jobs. These two regions are followed, at a considerable distance, by Andalusia (282,356, i.e. 11% of total vacancies) and the Region of Valencia (236,651, i.e. 9%).
Madrid, Catalonia and Andalusia are also the regions with the greatest increases in absolute terms, with 159,008, 95,833 and 36,950 more vacancies respectively in a landscape of widespread increases. In fact, job opportunities only fell in Castilla-La Mancha and, to a lesser extent, in Cantabria and Extremadura.