The question of which specialties in Spain are highly paid is constantly raised. At the same time, a special role is played by long-term forecasts, which allow future specialists to decide on the choice of profession and in the future to occupy good positions in the labor market. Experts in the field of human resources of several large consulting firms told the Spanish portal expansion.com about the main trends of the labor market for the coming years. We bring this information to your attention.
According to the results of recent studies, the profession “general director of an energy company” with a salary of €400,000 per year leads the rating. When it comes to sectors, the highest salaries are earned by workers in the fields of pharmacology, real estate and technology. Specialists in the digital sphere firmly hold one of the leading positions in the ranking, although some experts claim that their salaries are gradually decreasing due to the increase in the number of professionals.
The annual growth of wages by 2-7%, and in some cases by 14%, illustrates the trends of the modern labor market. Experts agree that the labor market landscape has improved significantly in 2017, with some even talking about an average growth rate of 4%, the highest since 2008.
Yolanda Gutiérrez, a member of the recruitment consultancy Eversheds Nicea, says that the rise will continue in 2018, noting that in some sectors it is possible to talk about figures of up to 4%, while in general the growth rate will be 2-2 5%. Susan Marcos of PeopleMatters also cites a 2% figure for all levels, while salaries for technology, management and administration professionals could increase by 15%. Marco Leveda, managing director of Robert Walters in Spain and Portugal, talks about 3-7% growth depending on the sectors.
The Robert Walters company compiled lists of professions with their corresponding actual salaries in eight fields (engineering, automotive sector, sales, real estate, information technology, pharmacology and bioengineering, finance and human resources). The salary of employees also depends on the size of the company in which they work.
The highest paid professions
CEOs of oil and gas companies with more than 1,000 employees receive €400,000 a year (including a variable part of the salary, which is about 60% and depends on the performance of the tasks) and are the highest paid employees in the Spanish labor market, according to an analysis by Robert Walters . Last year, directors of real estate agencies and construction companies with an annual salary of €350,000 came close to the leader of the rating (variable share – 40%).
In third place are HR directors, especially those working in companies included in Ibex35. The fact is that every year the issue of human resources and the hiring of qualified personnel is becoming more acute, and companies need specialists in the field of personnel selection. For example, in 2017, the annual salary of the human resources director of one large pharmaceutical company was equal to €188,500, while in 2018 it will be €192,000 per year.
At the same time, sectors such as real estate and investment banking will once again lead this year in terms of salary growth for professionals such as business unit directors, project group directors and fund managers.
The salaries of specialists whose activities are related to digital transformations and transformation management will also increase significantly, especially IT directors and chief operating officers, who, depending on the size and type of activity of the firm, can receive about €150,000 per year. Cyber security professionals will be well-paid in this field, and they are increasingly in demand. Yes, the salary of a data analyst with three years of work experience will exceed €42,000 per year.
Experts agree that the tendency to increase salaries will be observed mainly in the field of information technologies. However, Jorge Erraís, director of services at Korn Ferry Hay Group, while acknowledging that the highest salaries will be paid by those employed in the field of digital marketing and technology (especially those whose activities are related to “big data”), notes that in certain jobs are easier to achieve higher salaries in a shorter period of time than others: “A business analysis manager can earn the same amount in the first five years of his career as a technology specialist in a ten-year career.” Errais notes that salary scales have already been established in these fields, at least at the entry level, due to the large supply of professionals. At the same time, a “salary bubble” that can burst at any moment is observed in the segments of website development, mobile applications and big data.
The most attractive sectors
The areas with the highest salaries, according to the PeopleMatters specialist, are those where the country’s largest companies work: electricity, gas, telecommunications, finance, oil. Banks, insurance and pharmaceutical companies, as well as technology companies will pay the best for their employees.
Korn Ferry Hay Group experts also mention such industries as consumption and construction. Jorge Erraís explains that the construction sector in Spain, which has recently been gaining momentum in connection with the exit from the crisis, faces the problem that at the global level this sector has not yet recovered. The specialist also mentions the chemical sector, where salaries are currently 8-10% higher than the average level in the Spanish labor market.
“Salary mix”
Designing compensation packages is in some cases the most powerful tool for attracting and retaining good professionals. The crisis and the associated savings on wages forced organizations to resort to various methods of developing rewards, which, in addition to the economic component, included social benefits designed to compensate for the weak growth of wages in recent years.
Maribel Rodríguez, a human resources expert at Robert Walters, says that if earlier the best “salary mixes” were offered by international companies, now they have been overtaken by startups that are inventing numerous ways to attract the most talented specialists to their teams: from additional leave to educational courses. This is especially important when working with millennials.
Despite this, Rodriguez believes that the technology, banking and pharmaceutical sectors are not going to give up positions in this area. Sergi Perez, a specialist at Korn Ferry Hay Group, also names consumer, telecommunications, technology and financial segments. In turn, Carlos Delgado, president of Compensa Capital Humano, is convinced that the best salary packages will be offered by companies operating in the field of professional services, technology, consumer and commercial networks.