74% of companies find it difficult to increase their workforce due to labor regulations

More than four out of every ten Spanish entrepreneurs claim to find serious difficulties in increasing the size of their companies and their workforce due to the existing labor overregulation in our country. Specifically, 74% of the companies interviewed by the Círculo de Empresarios consider the high bureaucracy a real obstacle to increasing the size of their businesses and, therefore, of their workforce.

“To face the economic recovery and its future, Spanish companies need to gain scale . The small size has been a factor of greater vulnerability in the face of the fall in income derived from restrictive measures against the pandemic”, point out the experts of the Circle.

Thus, among the greatest difficulties for Spanish companies to grow in size, the companies consulted point to the existing labor regulation (73.9%), administrative and regulatory barriers (67.4%) and the tax legislation of the labor market ( 51.6%).

On the other hand, among the reasons that prevent greater entrepreneurship in Spain are the existence of an unfavorable bureaucratic and regulatory environment for starting companies (76.6%), the absence of training on entrepreneurship in education regulated (51.1%) and the lack of social recognition of the employer (47.8%).

In addition, the main measures that could encourage the sustained growth of companies in Spain are, according to those surveyed, the promotion of innovation (62.5%), the increase in the degree of internationalization of the company (59.8%) and taking advantage of the digital revolution, looking for new opportunities and reviewing the business model (57.1%).

One of the critical points for improvement in Spain is to streamline the procedures for obtaining licenses and permits. For this, it is considered necessary to reduce inefficiency and slowness by cutting resolution deadlines and / or the application of positive administrative silence (63.9%), as well as increasing digitization in the relationship with the Administration (57.8% ) and promote compliance with the Market Unity Law to reduce complexity and avoid duplication (56.1%).

When it comes to improving the situation of the labor market in Spain, the surveyed companies consider it essential to increase flexibility (68.3%) and improve the potential to link wages to productivity gains (63.9%).

The president of the Círculo de Empresarios, Manuel Pérez-Sala, denounced in the presentation of the study A new course for Spain. Shaking hands and not turning our backs that the Spanish institutions “are seriously threatened”, and presented a document to make an appeal to the political class to “normalize coexistence, dialogue and tolerance”, since “it is not up to par “of citizenship.