A LEADING employers’ association representing retail giants including El Corte Ingles has called on the Spanish government to launch an urgent immigration plan designed to fill the tens of thousands of vacancies currently existing in the sector.
ANGED (‘National Association of Large Distribution Companies’), founded in 1968 to lobby on behalf of Spanish retail companies when dealing with the government or unions, represents 23 leading businesses including Carrefour, Ikea and Fnac – and warns that an estimated 16,000 vacancies across the sector are threatening to cripple the ability of companies to operate effectively and profitably.
In a damning recent report, ANGED said eight in ten distribution companies were experiencing problems in basic operational functions, owing primarily to a lack of staff and a ‘worrying increase in absenteeism and turnover’.
According to data from the Quarterly Labour Cost Survey (ECTCL), there were 152,855 unfilled vacancies across Spain at the end of the first quarter of 2025, representing a 3.28% increase from the end of 2024, and the highest recorded figure since mid-2023.
But although Spain’s unemployment rate remains stubbornly high at over 10% – equating to over 2 million Spaniards – ANGED is calling on the government to ‘facilitate the incorporation of new niches of foreign professionals’ to fill the gap.

The proposal forms part of a wider plan put forward by the employers’ association in an attempt to alleviate the current labour shortage.
At a recent event held in Catalunya, ANGED’s president, Matilde Garcia Duarte, called for the implementation of ‘a major agreement to improve vocational training and bring it closer to the reality of business’, whilst also ‘coordinating migration policies that help to cover the shortage of professional suffered by many sectors’.
The latest plan, sent to the relevant government departments, encourages the promotion of formal training, as well as the adoption of dual training practices designed to ensure a greater return for both companies and employees.
According to the National Statistics Institute (INE), Catalunya, Madrid and Andalucia are the Spanish regions with the highest number of vacancies.
In contrast, La Rioja, Cantabria and Asturias have the fewest.
Despite the complaints made by leading companies, Spain actually has one of the lowest vacancy rates in Europe.
According to data from Eurostat, the European statistics office, Spain’s percentage of vacancies compared to total employment is just 0.9%, far lower than the average Eurozone figure of 2.3%, and only eclipsed by three European Union member states: Romania (0.6%), Poland (0.8%) and Bulgaria (0.8%).
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