New trends in the labor market are taking hold. Concepts such as teleworking or hybrid work are already a reality in Spain. At the same time, self-employment, freelancing or freelance work is becoming established in the minds of Spanish workers.
The XXV Informe Infoempleo Adecco: Oferta y Demanda de Empleo en España (25th Infoempleo Adecco Report: Job Supply and Demand in Spain) has thrown up a series of interesting data about the freelance sector and the labor market in Spain after the pandemic. In this Befree blog post we list and comment on them.
Recovery underway
It is well known that the current economic situation is not the best. Although on a social level, in the streets, there is hardly any talk of Covid-19 and the pandemic, the scenario is very different in the workplace. The economic devastation caused in the forties and during the following months has been remarkable and difficult to forget.
However, the national job supply is completely upward. So much so that it is recovering to pre-pandemic levels. The fateful year 202o ended with a 41.9% drop in job supply. But the response during the subsequent year 2021 has been resounding: around 850,000 jobs were created.
This is the largest increase since 2005, according to the Labour Force Survey (EPA). In percentage terms, the growth in the supply of jobs in Spain stood at 44.7%. This represents an almost complete recovery from pre-pandemic levels.
Freelancing: adapt or die
The labor market and freelancing in Spain contain several similarities, but also some differences. To begin with, the recovery in both sectors is not being similar, as freelancers are still carrying the losses on their backs. In fact, the most striking fact in the InfoEmpleo and Adecco report is that around 70% of self-employed or freelance workers in Spain work out of necessity rather than vocation.
However, journalist Alfonso Bello Huidobro, from the newspaper El Economista, points out that what these data indicate about freelancers speaks very well of them. "Spaniards demonstrate a great capacity to adapt and overcome the weaknesses of our labor market; they are the engine that moves our national economy."
In addition, more than half of the freelancers consulted in the report's survey say they are happier since they have been self-employed. The main reasons for this include being able to be their own boss (48.86% of respondents), setting their own working hours (42.50%) and the feeling of freedom that being a freelancer brings (37.73%).
Befree: freelance market experts
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