In the report entitled “Investing in Productivity Growth”, the consultancy points out that data for Spain shows that since 2012, labour productivity growth has been 0.4%, compared to an average of 0.5% in the rest of the major European economies, and 1% in the United States. Spain, the report points out, has had a sustained low productivity growth for a quarter of a century – only in Italy has it been lower.
Alejandro Beltrán, senior partner at McKinsey & Company explains that “over the last decade, investment – and therefore capital accumulation per worker – in advanced economies has been very low. Spain is no exception: before the global financial crisis, investment was high, but concentrated in the construction sector, which did not contribute to raising productivity. After the financial crisis, investment plummeted and has not recovered,” he warns.
In Spain, economic growth is proving more robust than in the rest of Europe and is expected to remain so in the coming year – according to an IMF report it will be the second fastest growing developed economy in 2024-25, behind only the US and Canada – driven by consumption, services exports, and immigration. But investment and productivity growth, the foundations of high and sustainable long-term growth, remain stagnant.
