Spain has spent nearly three decades without managing to converge in productivity with the most advanced European economies. Despite the economic growth and job creation recorded in recent years, the Spanish productive model continues to face serious difficulties in generating a sustained increase in value added per hour worked.
This was highlighted by experts from the General Council of Economists of Spain (CGE) and the Foundation for Applied Economics Studies (Fedea) during a technical workshop held in Madrid.
According to data presented by Rafael Doménech, Head of Economic Analysis at BBVA Research, using the United States as a baseline of 100, Spanish productivity in GDP per hour worked stands at around 75%, compared to 97% in benchmark countries such as Germany, Austria, Belgium, or the Netherlands. This gap of nearly 22 points relative to the European core has remained virtually unchanged since the mid-1990s.
Key factors include a lag in productive business investment. While investment in machinery, equipment, and technology grew by 50% in the European Union and 56% in the United States between 2002 and 2025, the cumulative increase in Spain was only 15%. Similarly, public investment in 2025 stood at 2.9% of Spain’s GDP, nearly a full percentage point below the EU average (3.8%).
Compounding this is the structure of the business sector. Antonio García Rebollar, Commercial Technician and State Economist, pointed out that more than 30% of hours worked in Spain are concentrated in low-value-added sectors such as retail, hospitality, and transport, compared to just 12.4% in manufacturing. Furthermore, the heavy presence of micro-enterprises hampers overall efficiency, as large Spanish companies are twice as productive as smaller ones, and firms integrated into multinational groups display double the productivity of independent ones.
To reverse this trend, experts agree on the need to eliminate regulatory barriers that discourage SME growth, boost R&D investment, foster venture capital, and align human capital training with market and technological demands through long-term state policies.
