A report by LinkedIn concludes that the digital industry is the sector that generates most employment in Barcelona

• The LinkedIn’s Economic Graph analyses the status of digital talent in Barcelona using its own data compiled over the last year
• Despite the general fall in recruitment because of the Covid-19 crisis, the profile of Software Engineer was the most sought-after by companies over the summer months
• The ten highest-growth skills for professionals include six that are digital development-related

10 December, 2020

arcelona, 10 December 2020. –Digital skills and technology-related professions are now well-established in Barcelona. This is one of the conclusions reached on the basis of the LinkedIn’s Economic Graph, a report on the status of digital talent in the city, which Mobile World Capital Barcelona and LinkedIn presented this morning to mark Barcelona Digital Talent Day 2020.

The study, which has been produced using LinkedIn’s own data compiled over the last year, is intended to offer a detailed picture of the current situation of the digital sector in Barcelona, with a focus both on the skills of professionals and on the evolution of different types of professions.

The Software and Information Technology sector stands out among others for employing professionals in Barcelona. It employs a higher percentage (15%) than Manufacturing (10%), Corporate Services (9%), Consumer Goods (7%) and Education (7%). These results reflect the figures of Barcelona Digital Talent Overview 2020, which were issued last June and established a 14% growth in digital employees.

LinkedIn’s report also analyses how professional skills have evolved in Barcelona over the last year. The list of the ten highest-growth skills includes six in the digital development sector: Analytics, Python, Agile Methodologies, Information Technology, Data Analysis and Technical Support.

The study was presented as part of Barcelona Digital Talent Day 2020, which involves sessions that deal with new developments, key aspects of and challenges regarding digital talent. The act was attended by Jordi Arrufí, spokesman for Barcelona Digital Talent and Director of Digital Talent of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, and Ángel Sáenz de Cenzano, Country Manager of LinkedIn for Spain and Portugal.

According to Jordi Arrufí “we have made a firm pledge to talent with a view to making the city of Barcelona more competitive. This new era of digitalisation brings with it new professional needs and an effort must be made to cover them. Analysis of the training available in Barcelona has revealed positions that require strengthening. Most of these are related to data, cybersecurity, and the cloud. In times like these we need short-term solutions to reduce the gap between supply and demand in the digital sector, as well as reskilling to incorporate professionals from other areas”.

Ángel Sáenz de Cenzano meanwhile emphasized that “we are living in unprecedented times in which both companies and workers have been required to adapt their tools and their services in record time. That has generated the need for new talent to cover these urgent requirements, including more technological profiles. Making these compatible with existing profiles is essential if we are to make progress. The only way in which we can adapt to these new needs is by recycling our knowledge and our skills, and by doing so we can take a step forward in our professional careers”.

Although the crisis resulting from the measures implemented to tackle the spread of Covid-19 has had a strong impact on all sectors, some have been able to cope better. One is the digital sector, which, according to data from Barcelona Digital Talent Overview 2020, published over 6,700 job offers in Catalonia during the most intense months of the pandemic (March, April and May).

Although recruitment has decreased, LinkedIn detected that the profile of Software Engineer was the most sought-after by companies from June to August, followed closely by that of Project Manager. Since the start of the year, there has also been high demand for other positions that require digital skills. These include Community Manager, Graphic Designer and Customer Service Representative.

Based on the profiles of workers resident in Barcelona, LinkedIn has reached the conclusion that 76% are digitally skilled. This percentage refers to basic digital skills, which involve knowledge for performing the everyday digital activities necessary for a specific job and include, for example, Animation, Videogame Development, Graphic Design and Data Storage Technologies. A further 24% of professionals now master what are known as disruptive digital skills. These focus on innovations that reinvent conventional processes such as Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity and Robotics. It is more likely that employees with such skills provide their services to large or medium-sized companies (59%).

The importance of the sector in Barcelona’s local economy is apparent in the mobility of professionals. Services associated with Software and Information Technology are among the major suppliers of talent for other industries. The sector features among the three industries that feed talent to Manufacturing, Corporate Services, Consumer Goods and Education.