The Barcelona tech ecosystem continues its upward trend for another year. Digital professionals have grown to more than 122,000, a 12.4% increase compared to a year ago, according to a study by Mobile World Capital Barcelona (MWCapital). "In 2023, records for the incorporation of digital talent were broken," highlighted its CEO, Francesc Fajula. A new milestone has thus been registered in the city, after years of increases, even and especially in 2020 during the pandemic. In the first study prepared by the foundation in 2018, there were only 67,720 professionals, and the figure has increased by almost 55,000 workers over five years, despite still being below the needs of burgeoning companies, especially those in cybersecurity, with only 14 interested parties for each published offer.
The growth of 13,500 new employees in the ICT sector last year is mainly based on the arrival of more than 5,000 from outside Barcelona, mostly international. London, Lisbon, Madrid, and Buenos Aires are the main cities sending talent to the Catalan capital. The rest come from university degrees and master's programs taught in the Barcelona demarcation (almost 3,000), as well as from vocational training cycles (4,100) and other digital studies (1,300) in the province. The growth of vocational training stands out especially, up 42% from 2022, when there were almost 2,900.
The demand for digital talent also rose last year, but less than in other years due to the slowdown in investment by venture capital funds. Almost 34,200 job offers for ICT profiles were published in Barcelona, a figure five times higher than five years ago, but 13% below compared to 2022. Specifically, the city's technology hubs increased their demand by 37%, but startups offered 34% fewer vacancies, considering they have suffered a 50% drop in captured investment.
Despite everything, with these figures, the MWCapital report concludes that three out of ten job offers in Barcelona are digital. This places it in third position at a European level, only behind London (32%) and Amsterdam (30%), and above the European average (25%) and the Spanish average (15%).
The gender gap is narrowing but persists
The MWCapital report shows how the gender gap in the ICT sector continues to be a reality in the city. Last year, there were almost 35,000 women working in digital professions, which is equivalent to 31% of the total, in line with the European average. However, more and more women are working in this sector, as confirmed in the different editions of the study, with a growth of 22% compared to 2018.