Catalan employers’ organization Pimec warned regional and national leaders that the housing crisis has directly damaged business competitiveness by preventing workers from finding homes near their jobs. Antoni Cañete, president of Pimec, delivered the warning at the organization’s 39th annual gala before an audience of more than 2,000 attendees, including Catalan President Salvador Illa and Spanish Social Security Minister Elma Saiz.
Housing Crunch Threatens Regional Business Competitiveness
According to data cited by Pimec leadership during the annual gathering, 63% of businesses report ongoing difficulties filling available job openings. Cañete pointed directly to housing availability as a primary bottleneck keeping prospective employees from relocating or commuting to employment centers.
“The 63% of companies tell us they have difficulty filling jobs, and one of the causes is that many people cannot access housing near where they work,” Cañete stated during his address. He emphasized that what was once viewed strictly as a social challenge has evolved into a structural threat to economic productivity and business growth.
While acknowledging that the central government has deployed decrees and regulatory tools to address the market, Cañete cautioned lawmakers against heavy-handed legal initiatives that might inadvertently suppress rental inventory. “If we generate legal insecurity, if owners perceive more risk and homes end up leaving the rental market, we will not have solved the problem. We will have aggravated it,” he warned, calling instead for a broad, stable, and enduring cross-party housing pact.
Debate Over Workplace Absenteeism and Labor Dynamics
Beyond the housing market, the Pimec summit addressed other persistent pressures facing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), notably labor absenteeism. Cañete argued that resolving absenteeism requires coordinated participation from all stakeholders across the labor and healthcare sectors.
Responding during her own address at the event, Social Security Minister Elma Saiz pushed back on certain categorizations, asserting that “a medical leave is not workplace absenteeism” nor is any temporary medical absence inherently linked to truancy. Saiz noted that companies can constructively engage in this area through enhanced workplace risk prevention, job adaptation, and supportive reintegration programs for employees returning from leave.
Immigration, Wage Growth, and Firm Scale
Immigration and labor force replenishment also featured prominently in the discussions. Cañete acknowledged to Minister Saiz—whose portfolio includes migration oversight—that the economies could not have filled essential job vacancies without foreign-born workers. He nonetheless insisted that future arrivals must form part of “an orderly and regulated migration, a migration with rights and duties.”
On compensation, Pimec advocated for meaningful wage growth tied to productivity gains rather than inflationary pressures alone. To shield households and enterprises from rising costs, Cañete urged authorities to adjust personal income tax (IRPF) brackets to inflation and to update family deductions and state aid.
To sustain higher wages, Cañete argued that businesses must scale up. Citing the model of Germany—where SMEs share a comparable economic weight to those in Catalonia and Spain—he called for a dedicated business growth law. “Dimension matters,” Cañete said. “Dimension allows you to invest more, innovate more, incorporate more technology, internationalize, train people better, and capture talent.”
Annual Business Awards Recognized at the Gala
The 39th edition of the Pimec awards ceremony operated under the slogan “Growing is the future. Let’s make it big.” Several Catalan companies received honors across distinct operational categories during the evening:
- Business Second Chance Award: Halitta Foods
- Catalan Business Projection Award: Druids Process Technology
- Business Linguistic Quality Award: B i B Grup
- Barcelona High-Innovation Enterprise Award: Theker Robotics
- Social Commitment Award: Pallars Fustes
- Pymes Plus Award: Kave Home
- Most Competitive Microenterprise Award: 2M Engineering
- Small Business Award: Beor
- Medium Enterprise Award: Krypton Chemical
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