Alejandra Olcese

Updated Friday, January 19, 2024-01:51

  • Forecasts The Government foresees a slowdown in productivity per worker: employment will grow more than GDP

Total factor productivity

(TFP) in Spain - that is, the degree of efficiency with which employment and capital are allocated to produce - has accumulated a

fall

of 7.3% since 2000,

which has contributed to slowing down the growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per inhabitant and aggravate the gap between our country and the rest of European countries, according to a report published today by the BBVA Foundation and the IVIE to which EL MUNDO has had access.

This poor performance of productivity in Spain

contrasts with the good evolution

that this indicator has registered in other European countries such as

Germany

, where it has increased by 11.8% in the same period, or in the

United States

, where it has registered a growth of 15%. ,5%.

The difference is due to the lower efficiency in the allocation of both the labor factor and capital.

"

TFP levels have fallen

in Spain during

most of the 21st century,

while productive efficiency improved in the EU, and in the United States it improved even more," point out the researchers who authored the document.

The only positive part of this evolution is that

since 2013

, when Spain began to recover from the impact of the financial crisis, productivity has registered

"a modest improvement"

in this indicator, which registered an increase of 1.2% to the year 2019. The upward trend was interrupted in 2020 by the pandemic, as restrictions interrupted activity in many economic sectors and plunged productivity by 5.1%;

but since then the growth path has been resumed and this metric accumulates an increase of 2.8% accumulated in 2021 and 2022 - latest data available -.

The recovery of these last two years has not been enough to return to pre-covid levels.

In addition to analyzing its evolution, the authors of the report explain

the causes

of productivity problems in the Spanish economy: "Different factors appear at the origins of productivity problems: excess capacity in

real estate assets,

lack of investment in

intangible

assets

during the first decade of the century, the insufficient use of

educational improvements

and the

delay in structural reforms

that boost product and service markets and improve the allocation of production factors," they summarize.

Regarding the efficiency with which capital is allocated, the authors specify that Spanish companies incurred an "

excessive accumulation of real estate assets"

during the sector bubble, both residential and other types, which are now underutilized, which hinders productivity.

"Sectors such as construction - as a supplier - and hospitality, energy and many service activities - such as intensive demand for warehouses, commercial premises or offices, as well as housing - attracted

enormous investments that were not very productive

. These investments led to excesses of unused capacity, which emerged especially when the economy entered a recession," they specify.

These premises or properties were purchased thinking about the profitability they would offer due to the expected price increase, but not thinking about whether they would be productive if used.

A second reason would be Spain's lower investment in

intangible assets,

such as Investment and Development

(R&D),

software, databases, training, etc., which usually improve the efficiency of companies.

"Compared to advanced economies, Spain occupies

the last position

in investment in intangibles, to which it only allocates

40.5% of the total investment.

Although the percentage is significant, in countries such as the United Kingdom, Finland, the United States, France or Sweden, these investments are the majority, exceeding by 20 percentage points the weight they have in Spain," they highlight.

Our country is also the one that allocates the least to investment in intangibles in relation to GDP (9.5% in 2020, half that of France or the United States).

Less productive employment

Regarding work efficiency, Spain also has its own circumstances that contribute to its low productivity.

This is the case of "

poor educational results

and

temporary

employment", the "less use of qualified labor than in most European countries" and the predominance of "unprofessionalized management models in many companies."

The last two factors are influenced by the

composition

of the productive fabric, with more weight in sectors that generate less added value (less intensive in knowledge and in the use of Information and Communication Technologies) and a high proportion of

small and medium-sized companies. .

The combination of a reduction in productivity in Spain and the improvement in the rest of the countries results in an

increase in the gap

between

per capita income

in Spain and the EU average.

This differential has increased sixfold in the last two decades, going

from 2.4% to 14.4%.

Thus, while at the beginning of the century per capita income in Spain was 2.4% below the community average, today this indicator is 14.4% below.