Nelson is 61 years old and is a mason in the construction. Like him, more than 7% of workers in this sector are over 60 years oldwith an average age of 45, while those under 35 represent barely 9%. This is the case of Juan. “Young people, from my fifth floor, are not obliged to come to work,” he emphasizes.
A circumstance that represents a new challenge for the sector, which is without generational change. “It affects now, there is no replacement,” says Juan. A trend that not only affects construction, but also the rest of the labor market: youth employment has fallen by half in the last 17 years and Only 28.6% of workers in Spain are under 35 years old years, according to data from the Bank of Spain corresponding to 2022. In 2005, they reached 46.3%.
Miguel Ángel Bernal Alonso, economist and managing partner of Bernal y Sanz Bujanda explains that the fact that “we have more and more elderly people compared to young people” means that there is no “restitution rate” and also points out that “there are highly educated people who are leaving Spain”. “A 60-year-old working in construction cannot have the productivity of a 30-year-old,” he says.
Meanwhile, the weight of over 45 years old in the labor market, it is only growing, until it represents the 45% of employeescompared to the 26.4% they represented in 2005. An aging which is also noticeable in the labor flowwhere young people have less difficulty changing jobs.
In addition, more mature profiles would face a adaptation to the digital world which sometimes costs. “Either you evolve in the digital world or we are a little behind,” says Eguzkiñe García, an adult education trainer at the Master D. Something, she emphasizes, however, that “is being reformed, especially with the boom that is happening with FP.” “For them, in the end, it means the world,” he adds. Challenges that, if this change does not happen, could affect productivity in an increasingly competitive world of work.
