Uruguay: Sectors to drive job growth in 2022

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to the labor monitor presented this week by Advice consulting firm, labor demand in Uruguay “resumed its growth path” at the close of 2021.

In November last year, 3,207 new jobs were registered, while in December this number increased and reached 3,571, up 11%. “These data are among the most remarkable because it means that labor demand is on an upward trend; we see a year-on-year growth between 2020 – the year the pandemic started – and 2021,” said Advice Consulting Uruguay director Federico Muttoni. The expert also assured that the labor market is “stable” when considering the figures in the analysis.

The unemployment rate decreased to 7.4% while the employment rate increased to 57.2%.

In the breakdown by sector, technology continues to be the area generating most jobs. In fact, this activity opened 677 jobs in December, representing 19% of the total and exceeds commerce, which ranked second with 454 jobs (13% of the total). This not only means that it is the fastest growing sector, but also that it became the first driver in employment.

In total “34,630 job openings were reported in 2021,” 72% more than in 2020, which accumulated 20,111 jobs, the Advice study reports.

The financial sector disclosed 301 job offers in December and came in third place, as the number of positions in this area accounted for 8% of the total demand in the employment market.

“Comparing with the previous month there were winners and losers. The ones that grew the most with respect to November, in addition to technology, were engineering, communication-marketing and finance,” Advice’s report points out.

Engineering opened 232 jobs last month alone. On the other hand, the communication and marketing area has been consolidating and in December created 236 jobs, which shows strong growth compared to the last month of 2020, when only 79 jobs were created in the sector.

THE DISADVANTAGED

On the opposite end are the sectors most affected by the destruction of jobs caused by the pandemic. Tourism, logistics and construction all registered fewer job offers.

The hardest hit was tourism, “which reduced job offers by 30% (from 251 in November to 176 new positions in December), followed by logistics and construction, which registered 51 and 44 fewer openings than the previous month, respectively,” the report states.

On the other hand, Advice’s analysis underlines: “It is important to highlight that all activities accumulated more openings in 2021 than in 2020. The one that increased the least was healthcare, which likewise opened 30% more.”

2022: WHAT TO EXPECT IN JANUARY

The second half of January will not have positive results as initially expected for the hotel, catering and tourism sectors, Muttoni said. However, the data comparing January 2021 with January 2022 “leads us to expect that the numbers will be somewhat better,” the expert said. “They will influence the boost we will need this year if the situation and sanitary measures allow it,” he added.

“Technology is unstoppable and we don’t see that this may change in the short term, but it is important to highlight that at the moment there is a mismatch between supply and demand; this is a global issue,” Muttoni argued. This means that the positions demanded by companies and the skills offered by workers are mismatched, i.e., the amount of existing talent is not enough to meet the sector’s needs.

“This is the main issue to address, given that between 3,000 and 5,000 jobs vacant today need to be filled,” Muttoni stressed.

In the first month of the year, while commerce is recovering, tourism, logistics and construction are more “dynamic” this month due to the high season. Despite this reality, the expert clarified that pre-pandemic levels will not be reached. “Construction is now thriving and logistics has been damaged by several factors, such as the conflicts in the port and the so-called container crisis,” explained the director of Advice Consulting.

IRREVERSIBLE TRENDS

Uruguay is experiencing an “interesting” projection of remote work, which now accounts for 17% or 19% of employment opportunities, many of which are related to technology. “This is an irreversible trend that is occurring internationally and locally,” according to Muttoni.

Remote work and the hybrid model mean that work in 2022 will be redefined by the historic highs they are reaching in Uruguay this year.

“Covid-19 affected the location of workers worldwide,” the expert pointed out, adding that data and information flow will become a key factor.

“The workplace culture will definitely change in 2022 because people will no longer be in an office all the time; companies will continue to invest in technology,” Muttoni said.

PUBLIC SECTOR

In the public sector there were 339 calls in December 2021, in November there were 301. This represents a 13% increase in the generation of employment by the State. According to the report, “despite the increase in offers, the share of the public sector with respect to the total demand remained unchanged with 9% of the total.”

“The main destination of the State’s calls was education, with 90 jobs, representing 27% of the State’s demand. It is followed in the ranking by health, with 84 and 25% of positions in demand in the public sector,” Advice’s report specifies.