Porto, Portugal, Aug. 27, 2024 (Lusa) - The civil construction sector in Portugal has shown ‘extraordinary resilience’ in the face of structural labour problems, the sector association argues, pointing to a shortage of 80,000 workers and lamenting the ‘added difficulties’ now experienced in hiring foreigners.
‘The most recent figures show that the level of employment provided by companies in the construction sector was maintained in the second quarter of 2024, when compared to the same period in 2023, which reflects the sector's continued ability to generate value and employ workers,’ said the president of the Association of Construction and Public Works Industrialists (AICCOPN) in a written response sent to the Lusa news agency on Tuesday.
According to Manuel Reis Campos, there was a ‘slight negative variation’ of 0.8% compared to the first quarter of 2024, but he attributes this to "structural difficulties when it comes to hiring qualified labour and not exactly to the sector's difficulty in creating jobs".
Pointing out that the estimated number of labour force shortages in the construction sector is around 80,000, the association leader emphasises that, in the face of this "scenario of profound shortages, this balance in the level of employment in the sector demonstrates the extraordinary resilience of companies to maintain their activity".
Some economists interviewed by the Lusa news agency say that Portugal is close to full employment, but there are indicators, namely youth unemployment and the slowdown in some sectors, that show that dynamism is waning, which could give the economy less of a boost.
The latest figures from the National Statistics Institute (INE) show that the employed population grew by 1% in the second quarter compared to the same period last year, but among the main areas of activity only services saw an increase. Thus, while the population employed in services increased by 2.2%, in agriculture, animal production, hunting, forestry and fishing it fell by 8.6% and in industry, construction, energy and water it fell by 1.4%.
For Reis Campos, the less dynamic job creation in the sector between April and June ‘is not related to the sector's inability to create jobs, but is essentially based on the difficulty of hiring labour’, which has been ‘repeatedly identified as the biggest obstacle to growth by construction companies’.
In this context, the president of AICCOPN regrets that the recent changes to the law on foreigners, by imposing restrictions on immigration and the granting of visas, have ‘made it more difficult for new workers to enter the market’ and ‘added complexity to a problem that needs urgent answers’.
Reis Campos warns that an increase in the difficulty of hiring qualified workers ‘could jeopardise the sector's ability to respond to large-scale projects that are underway or already planned, such as the works included in the National Investment Plan 2030’, which led the association to define an action plan, which it called ‘Construir 2030’, with measures aimed at ‘correct and timely application of the available European funds’.
'As far as the labour market is concerned, with the aim of guaranteeing companies in the sector the necessary and properly qualified human resources, we propose, in particular, a focus on training and innovation, taking advantage of the sector's centres of excellence, CICCOPN and CENFIC, the creation of a "corporate green lane" for strealining the process of obtaining work visas, pre-authorisation of residence for work visas and the simplification of processes for recognising qualifications”," it adds.
For the association, these are ‘fundamental measures aimed at removing existing bureaucratic and legal obstacles’ and ‘creating a more favourable and efficient environment that optimises the hiring of workers, essential for the development and sustainability of the sector and Portugal’.
PD/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
