Evolution of productivity and competitiveness

The Spanish economy shows a positive evolution in activity and employment, although productivity measured by GDP per hour worked maintains limited growth. In 2026, the productivity rate reaches 58.6%, recovering with respect to 2025 and approaching 2022 levels.

In the long term, Spain has increased its productivity by 20.2% since 1999, outperforming France and Italy. However, the gap with Germany (24.7%) shows room for improvement in the optimization of resources.

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Business size and operating efficiency

The size of companies has become a determining factor. The increase in the average company size to 12.3 employees favors technological investment and the professionalization of processes.

There has been a clear progression in productivity levels:

• Microenterprises account for 47.9%, with high vulnerability.
• Small companies account for 55.2%, in organizational transition.
• Medium-sized companies reach 60%, consolidating structures.
• The medium-large ones achieve the highest yield (62.2%).
• Large companies are down to 59.6%, affected by the risk of bureaucratization.

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Sectoral differences in productivity

Productivity varies significantly by sector. Activities with a higher technological component lead performance, with IT and audiovisuals (65.6%), transport (63.5%) and distribution (63.4%) standing out.

In contrast, sectors such as chemicals and healthcare (55.5%), food (57.3%) and hospitality (57.8%) face structural limitations due to their operational intensity and seasonality.

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Impact of absenteeism on efficiency

Absenteeism is consolidating as one of the main factors affecting productivity. The rate will reach 7.3% in 2024, practically doubling the levels of the year 2000.

The main causes are distributed between medical (49.2%) and organizational factors, such as job dissatisfaction and lack of stimuli, reflecting a disconnection between company and employee.

In addition, labor turnover increases operating costs, while absence management remains largely reactive, penalizing internal workload.

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Remuneration, training and performance

Companies are making progress in aligning results and compensation. 71.5% already apply variable compensation models, progressively extending them to the entire organization.

At the same time, training is consolidating its position as a strategic lever: 71% of companies are developing specific plans and 67.6% measure their impact, recording productivity improvements of between 6% and 10%.

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Flexibility and work models

Spain has a telework level of 14.4%, below the European average (24.1%), which limits its competitiveness in attracting talent.

However, the data show that remote productivity remains stable in more than half of the companies, provided that adequate measurement systems are in place.

In the face of peak demand, the use of overtime predominates (43.2%), reflecting a lack of structural planning compared to more efficient alternatives.