The Valladolid Chamber of Commerce calls for speeding up the arrival of immigrants to alleviate the lack of labour

The Valladolid Chamber of Commerce has warned that in the coming years the shortage of labour will worsen due to the retirement of the baby boom generation, which will leave "vacancies" that can only be filled by "migrants", and has therefore called for "facilitation" in their incorporation into the labour market and the promotion of "their full inclusion".

"But this cannot last three generations. It must be done quickly and in this first generation these people can feel Spanish and from Valladolid and contribute their labour to the labour market," said the president of the chamber, Víctor Caramanzana, during the presentation of the main initiatives and projects that will mark the institution's roadmap for this year.

The lack of manpower is one of the "problems" that companies bring to the Chamber, he admitted, emphasizing that the entire generation that will retire soon will leave "vacancy places that are very difficult to replace."

In this regard, the Chamber has held meetings with Spanish groups in other countries, to whom it has conveyed the "possibility of returning to Spain." "Spain is the gateway to the European market," he stressed, citing as an example the ties established with the Santiago de Chile Cooking School with 3,000 students.

"They have a major problem because they cannot find work in their country due to the economic situation and we are working with them so that they can come and do their training. In fact, on Friday we have a meeting with the Government sub-delegation to see all the procedures and to be able to facilitate them as much as possible, and to try to bring students from Chile to Castilla y León, to Valladolid, so that they can benefit from these people," added the vice president of the Chamber, Javier Labarga.

At this point, Caramanzana has advocated for "recovering" values ​​that have been in society such as "effort, entrepreneurship and social commitment." At the same time, he has encouraged the development of mechanisms to "strengthen loyalty." "We do not like to use the word retain, we use the mechanism of loyalty," he explained, since in his opinion it means a "change of mentality" for companies.

Regarding the activity of the Valladolid Chamber of Commerce during the past year, Caramanzana believes that the figures indicate that it is an "active" institution, the sixth in terms of "turnover and level of services" of the 84 in Spain .

Among other figures, the president has highlighted the creation of more than 90 companies, the training of 2,100 people, and the holding of a hundred courses. "We are at an important level of entrepreneurship," he added, stressing that the "level of activity" has meant that there are already more than fifty people working in the institution with a "high level of talent in all departments."

After making a plea in favour of companies, which he said are "a fundamental pillar of the economic and social development" of the country, and that defending them means "defending progress, employment and the well-being" of society, he addressed the challenges they face in the coming year. Among them, he cited the increase in labour costs, "oversized" tax pressure and labour reforms that are designed for "large companies" when the Spanish productive fabric is made up of "SMEs and micro-SMEs for the most part".

At this point, he focused on the ecological transition, where he warned of the "shooting itself in the foot" that Europe has given itself by betting on an industrial model for which it is "not prepared", in relation to the electric vehicle; and the "emotional well-being of people". On this last point, he recalled that depression and anxiety cost companies more than a billion dollars.

"It is a figure greater than the GDP of 90 percent of the countries in the world. It is vital to look after the people who are in companies, because it is a fundamental weapon of competitiveness. We have been working on all this for more than a year now, raising awareness and promoting that companies begin to work on the happiness of their workers," he argued. However, they consider that this year they will have "business opportunities, greater economic growth and improved competitiveness", DNA of the 37,000 companies in Valladolid out of the 148,000 that there are in the entire Community.

To do this, they will use "levers" such as entrepreneurship, internationalisation, training, employment, competitiveness and mediation. "In some of these we are the references at national and international level ," said the president of the chamber body.

Finally, he highlighted several tools implemented by the Chamber, such as the Urban Innovation Ecosystem, the Research Service and another would be the Chamber Campus. " Training is essential to ensure that companies remain competitive and it is essential not only for large companies but also for SMEs and micro SMEs," he concluded.