The Spanish woman is in a difficult time and cannot get out of the hole. While the increase in this indicator has been 0.8% annually on the European Union average between 2013 and 2022, in Spain it was only 0.4% per year during the same 10 years. This progress places the country as the fifth in the group of Twenty-seven with the least progress and . Behind these figures hides an evolution of the autonomous communities that leaves a map tinted red when each territory is compared with the European average. In an index with a base of 100, in which the reference is the community average, only the Basque Country (106.2 points), Navarra (100.6) and Madrid (100 points nailed) exceed or reach the threshold. The rest is clearly below, with Catalonia (92.8 points) and Extremadura (74.2) at the two extremes, according to the Analysis of work productivity in the CCAApublished this Wednesday by the General Council of Economists (CGE).
Productivity. As the CGE recalls in the document, it is the relationship between the production generated by a territory, sector or company and the resources that have been used for it. Thus, an increase in productivity indicates that all available levers have been combined more efficiently. For this reason, the recorded evolution shows that one of the most important problems of the Spanish economy in recent decades “is the inability to substantially and continuously improve its productive efficiency, beyond the specific increases observed in crisis phases. due to the intense fall in employment,” the document highlights.
The work carried out by economists analyzes the productivity between 2013 and 2022 of the 242 regions that make up the European Union and certifies that the territorial units with the highest performance are in Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Luxembourg. On the other hand, those with the worst efficiency are found in Bulgaria, Romania and Poland. With these data, each of the territories is classified and included in the corresponding performance quintile. The Basque Country, for example, occupies position 120, while Navarra and Madrid fall to 129 and 131. At the other extreme, the city of Melilla, the Region of Murcia and Extremadura are in positions 158, 161 and 162, respectively. Despite these differences, all Spanish regions are in the lower half of the table and move between the third and fourth quintile.
“The results obtained show a worrying picture which shows insufficient performance of the Spanish economy in terms of productivity,” summarizes the president of the CGE, Valentí Pich. This problem, he continues, continues over time and makes it difficult to converge with community averages. “Improving should not only be an objective as a country, but also a necessity so as not to fall behind both the traditional world economic powers and the new economies that are emerging strongly on the international scene,” he adds.
Economists have developed a national x-ray that helps understand the reasons for the great differences within Spain and their evolution during the decade analyzed. To do this, an index is also constructed with a base of 100 whose reference is, in this case, the national average. Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and La Rioja would range between 100 and 110 points in 2022, while only the three leading regions would be above this level. Already below the average threshold would be the Valencian Community, Cantabria, Asturias, Galicia, Aragón and Castilla y León, in addition to Ceuta, with between 90 and 100 points. Extremadura, Murcia, the Canary Islands, Andalusia and Castilla-La Mancha, along with Melilla, would be below 90.
In a more long-term analysis, between 2013 and 2022, the greatest dynamism and improvement ratio would be observed in the Balearic Islands, Cantabria, Galicia, Madrid, Murcia, Navarra, the Basque Country, La Rioja and, above all, the two autonomous cities . On the contrary, the Canary Islands and Extremadura would be the communities with the worst evolution and net loss of productivity. The rest of the territories would have recorded testimonial progress.
According to José Carlos Sánchez de la Vega, economist and director of the report, interterritorial gaps are essentially explained by factors such as technological effort, the size of companies and human capital. Economists, for example, remember that real estate, financial and insurance activities are the most efficient in all places. At the opposite extreme, artistic, recreational and entertainment industries, the repair of household items, and agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishing are those that, by far, present the lowest values. For this reason, communities with a greater weight of the agricultural sector present lower performance, as do those in which there is less investment in R&D or that present a temporary rate. high among its workers. Those with a greater presence of companies with more than 250 workers show better results, as well as those with greater qualifications and training of their employees.
