What are the most sought-after professions in Catalonia?

Engineers were the most sought-after professional profiles during 2020 in Catalonia. According to data from the Observatory of Work and Productive Model, dependent on the Department of Labor of the Generalitat, management and organization analysts occupied the second position, and database and computer network specialists, the third.

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Below the top three positions are systems analysts, computer systems operations technicians, software analysts and designers, psychologists and therapists, agricultural laborers, computer programmers, and sales professionals in the information and communication technologies (ICT) sector.

Without a doubt, technological and digital professions dominated the Catalan labor market in 2020, a year marked by the boost in teleworking, distance education, and telemedicine. These results fit with the evolution detected in the latest Active Population Survey (EPA), which showed that ICT workers continued to grow, becoming one of the few sectors that resisted the blow that covid-19 has dealt to the labor market.

According to EPA data for the third quarter of 2020, the ICT sector reached 128,700 workers in Catalonia, representing almost 4% of the employed population. Despite the coronavirus crisis, employment in this sector increased by a cumulative 12.6% between January and September 2020 and 19% compared to the third quarter of a year ago. Thus, the ICT sector added 1,000 workers in the first quarter of 2020; 8,800 in the second, and 4,600 in the third, managing to gain 14,400 more employed people in 2020.

A tool for making decisions in the labor field

The Observatori del Treball i Model Productiu created the tool Treball per ocupacions, which extracts the classification of the ten most demanded professions in Catalonia, to offer information on almost 500 occupations, which can be useful when making decisions about professional orientation.

The score obtained by each of the professions in the classification (engineers get 74.4%) results from the contracts signed and the people who demand this job through the Servei Públic d'Ocupació de Catalunya (SOC). The situation of each occupation is summarized in an index that allows ordering occupations, from best to worst positioned. This classification excludes occupations with a form of access that is carried out by a different route than labor contracting or self-employment, as is the case of those linked to security forces and the legislative and judicial powers.

The Departament de Treball also breaks down this information by regions, indicating the occupation that is best positioned in each of them. For example, in Barcelonès, engineers predominate; in Gironès, driving school instructors; in Tarragonès, river and coastal fishermen, and in Segrià, installers and repairers of electrical lines.