MADRID, 23 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -
The metal sector needs some 150,000 workers trained in different areas to cover the present and future demand of its companies, from welders and electricians to specialists in 3D technologies and robotics, according to calculations by Confemetal, which has prepared a 'Study on the needs of professional skills and learning of metal in Spain'.
This study, which details the profiles of workers required by the metal industry, commerce and services, will serve as the basis for the future training plan for the sector that Confemetal will design together with the CCOO and UGT.
Specifically, according to the employers of the metal, there is a growing lack of qualified professionals in the sector that currently limits and will also limit in the future the growth of the activity, and the productivity and competitiveness of the economy.
From the business organization, they warn that, if the economy begins to grow, industry, services and metal trade will not be able to meet the demand for qualified professionals with adequate training.
According to Confemetal estimates, only in the metal industry some 60,000 workers are needed with training in traditional professions such as turning, milling, tooling, welding and foundry, but also in new activities linked to product design; digitization; automation; 3D technologies; databases; process control; environmental and energy management; security; robotics, and logistics, among others.
In the case of metal trade and services, Confemetal estimates the need for trained workers at around 90,000. These are metal professions responsible for water, electricity, heating, cooling and air conditioning installations, thermal and acoustic insulation, telecommunications, recycling, and energies, especially renewable energies.
These Confemetal calculations are estimates based on current activity and the possibility that, if there is a wide range of qualified personnel, the sector could generate more employment. In fact, they argue that some metal business projects reduce their size or are dismissed precisely because of the lack of qualified personnel.
From Confemetal they emphasize the importance of training so that the sector maintains its activity but also so that it takes advantage of its potential to generate jobs. Without this necessary training and qualification of the workforce, the expectations of recovery that have been deposited in European funds will be limited or will not be successful, they warn.
The metal employers' association points out in this study that in order to acquire the skills needed by the sector, adequate facilities are required, similar to those found in factories and production centers, as well as "highly qualified" teachers and sufficient time for learning, All of these factors make the training offer more expensive and, therefore, require a higher level of investment.
To this we must add, in the Spanish case, several problems: the incorporation of young people from the educational system is limited by demographics and the "certain disaffection" that exists for working in the metal sector, which makes it compete "with a certain disadvantage" compared to other sectors when it comes to attracting talent. This, in turn, translates into an objective lack of potential workers or students.
Thus, Confemetal considers that training should contribute to making industrial jobs more attractive, especially for women, whose incorporation into the sector "should be favored and accelerated".
To carry out this skills study, Confemetal has carried out a survey of its territorial associations, has analyzed the more than 4.35 million employment contracts signed in the sector between March 2019 and March 2021, the more than 917,000 demands for employment in the months of March of the 2019-2021 period and the more than 142,000 training actions scheduled by companies in the sector in those years.
With regard to the metal industry, the territorial associations of Confemetal point out that the main skills needs are for professionals capable of handling automated and robotic lines; to study and specify production processes; of optimizing production and repairing machinery, among others. All of them have a criticality and coverage difficulty index of between 5.80 and 6.65 out of a total of 8 points.
Analyzing the data on contracting and employment demand in the metal industry, the operation of machining parts in the field of production appears as the highest priority, since it concentrates more than half of the contracts analyzed, followed by preventive maintenance, which groups a third of the contracts.
However, both functions present a significant mismatch between supply and demand, since the ratio of people seeking these jobs for each employment contract signed is barely 0.29 and 0.24, respectively. The lowest rate is presented by statistical process control (0.01) and circular economy and waste management in the field of quality (0.22).
In the wholesale trade of the metal sector, the greatest problems of professional skills, due to their difficulty in coverage, are presented by the operational functions of cutting and drilling, tooling and welding, both with an index of 7 out of a total of 8.
FLEXIBLE AND NON-CONVENTIONAL TRAINING After examining the results of the study, Confemetal advocates that the training plan to be designed for the sector, provided for in the collective agreement for 2023, does not contemplate the conventional structure of courses or specialties offered, since this is not adjusts to the demand for "microcompetences" that the sector needs.
Thus, it is committed to a "flexible" offer of training actions, mostly of short duration, with learning objectives associated with observable results and that responds to the true needs of companies.
"The efficient response to the needs of competence requires a sectoral learning ecosystem that facilitates the continuous process of training people through the coherent integration of different initiatives," he maintains.
To improve the situation of the sector and promote training in industrial jobs, Confemetal asks to promote training contracts in terms of working hours and salary, improve the contracts of young people linked to training and those over 45 years of age, and rely on formulas such as dual training, which would also contribute to reducing youth unemployment.
Dual vocational training is a variant of traditional vocational training, in which the student combines training at the educational center with his apprenticeship in a company.
Confemetal also claims to improve the financing and taxation of the training that companies offer their workers and that professional training, higher education and continuous training have among their objectives to make the labor market more efficient.
