Ibiza's small and medium-sized companies warn: staffing levels will not be filled due to lack of housing

Pimeef president Alfonso Rojo told Periódico de Ibiza y Formentera that the employers associated with the employers' association «do not believe that they will be able to fill the workforce to 100%» for the tourist season. At the moment, ‘they are calling up permanent employees and we have to see what will happen to them’. These workers will be fully incorporated into their posts ‘in mid-April’. And it will be then that the employers will have a clear idea of the situation in which they will have to work during the months of the tourist season.

Rojo stressed that the main reason for this difficulty is ‘the recurring problem of housing’. A problem that, moreover, worsens from year to year: ‘The rental price paid in the 2024 season will already be higher in the 2025 season and there may be those who decide not to come. The outlook is not very rosy. Businesses will adapt, as they always do, but with difficulty’.

It was Pimeef that first recommended to its members years ago that the companies themselves should look for housing for their workers. A fact that has led to the rental market for housing that until then had remained closed ‘due to the fear of the owners’.

This, however, has generated more tension in the market. Rojo acknowledges this with some regret because he is clear that ‘the housing problem is a social issue that affects everyone and belongs to everyone’.

For the president of Pimeef, the possibility for companies to house their own workers, as hotels used to do years ago, is not the solution at the moment. He pointed out that ‘the profile of workers has changed and they cannot be accommodated in these conditions’. This is why he believes it is urgent to ‘attack the problem with reality’. ‘The underground economy and speculation with rents is what is seen as the problem,’ he added, ’if this is attacked realistically, it can be fixed. The Consell de Ibiza is working well on the issue of the prosecution of illegal rentals, but it is clear that more resources are needed’.

The CAEB's delegate in Ibiza and Formentera, José Antonio Roselló, has made a similar statement, pointing out that the labour shortage is even occurring at the European level. However, he pointed out that ‘from the island reality it is experienced in a cruder way’. Roselló explained that, after the pandemic, a movement called ‘the great renunciation’ arose. But, in his opinion, the situation is different now, and in the case of Ibiza, it is totally conditioned by the lack of housing.

‘It's not a problem of money,’ he explained, ’what drives away the staff who traditionally come to do the season is that it is very difficult to find housing. And this problem is not being tackled realistically by public institutions’. Roselló blamed the central government, whose General Housing Law ‘is very counterproductive in terms of getting supply onto the market’.

The delegate of the CAEB also pointed out that public policies on housing ‘have been in disarray all over the place’. He added that ‘there has been no concern for this problem, other than generating housing, which is a slow process’. Furthermore, ‘there has been a very demagogic drift on the part of the Spanish government, which has succeeded in discouraging landlords from putting housing on the rental market’. All of this has been aggravated because, in Roselló's opinion, from an urban planning point of view, ‘there have been no brave politicians either, but rather a lot of ideological politics that has reduced the availability of housing’.

‘All of this,‘ stressed the employers’ representative, ‘is a dangerous cocktail for us and affects the workforce. There is a lack of nurses, drivers, mechanics, receptionists, chambermaids, waiters in general... It is a situation that affects hotels and the complementary offer. In some cases they have to restrict the supply of services because the situation is what it is and there is no more room for manoeuvre. The problem has a bad solution because the phenomenon is general and because public policies do not contribute to making things more flexible so that more housing is available’.

Finally, José Antonio Roselló is not in favour of companies taking responsibility for providing accommodation for their workers either: ‘It is not appropriate because the casuistry of people is very large and the truth is that it would be a chimera to think that companies can take responsibility for this issue. We are doing what we can, but it is a problem that is difficult to solve and will take time to resolve as long as national regulations are not more favourable to rental security. Moreover, illegal tourist rentals must continue to be tackled. But this is a long-term process.