The vice president of the Government of the Canary Islands and minister of Economy, Industry, Commerce and Self-Employed, Manuel Domínguez, and the minister of Tourism and Employment, Jéssica de León, presented together with the representatives of the Construction Labor Foundation, Femete, Femepa, and the Femepa Foundation, four training agreements that will be developed in the islands to qualify more than 700 unemployed people in the construction and industry sectors.
The objective of these programs is to address the scarce labor existing in these sectors and match labor supply and demand.
The total sum of the financing for the four projects by the Canarian Employment Service is 8,840,000 euros. The programs will be executed by the Fundación Laboral de la Construcción, Femete, Femepa and the Fundación Femepa. The time to execute the projects is 18 months and all participating individuals must be unemployed.
The Vice President of the Government, Manuel Domínguez, explained that “programs like those we are launching today not only fulfill an essential objective of this Government, which is none other than to shorten the gap between labor demand and supply, but also retain talent through training in high value-added sectors, such as industry and construction.” For this, Domínguez continued, “public-private collaboration is essential with driving projects for our employment like those we are presenting today.”
The Councilor for Tourism and Employment, Jéssica de León, pointed out that “60% of construction companies state that they cannot find profiles to cover these employment demands, being one of the sectors that offer the highest salaries of all employers in Canarias.”
De León explained that “we need profiles to be formed for two groups, the over 45 years old and under 25, as they are the ones who need reskilling, the former; and training, the latter. It must be taken into account that 80% of the unemployed in the Canary Islands only have basic training. Taking these profiles into account, today we are facing a great firm”.
The president of Femete, Juan Antonio Jiménez, stated that “they do not find qualified profiles to fill job vacancies, which represents a brake on growth of business activity”. Jiménez advocated for “theoretical-practical training to respond to business demands”.
The president of Femepa, Patricia Jiménez, pointed out that the existing gap between labor demand and supply “decreases business competitiveness”. “We have the best training centers, the best professionals and a business mass waiting for future workers, so we will fulfill this task with rigor”.
The president of the Fundación Laboral de la Construcción of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Óscar Izquierdo, made a call to young people and women to join sectors such as construction or industry, because “they are economically attractive and have ample personal and professional development. We urgently need them to join the labor market,” he pointed out.
The president of the Fundación Laboral de la Construcción de Las Palmas, Salud Gil, explained that in the four programs a training itinerary has been designed “consistent with market demand; with already existing trades, but incorporating new technologies”.
The training will be in alternation with employment, so all students will be hired during the training period. Each of the projects and training itineraries are structured in a 40% of theoretical-practical training and a 60% of practical work.
The profiles that are scarce in the construction sector are bricklayers or heavy machinery operators. In the case of industry, something similar occurs, companies report problems covering positions for welders or electromechanics.
Hence the training itineraries range from road maintenance technician, building rehabilitation, industrialized construction operator, formwork operator, building site manager and renewable energy operator, up to welding, elevator maintenance, automatic doors, drones, or cybersecurity, among others.