Business is preparing for the Christmas shopping season with the Black Friday as a starting signal. According to calculations by the Randstad Research think tank, It is expected that during these discount days 117,000 jobs will be created in Spain both in the stores themselves and in the logistics and transport. Half of the hiring will foreseeably be concentrated in Catalonia, Andalusia and Madrid.
Forecasts suggest that the pre-Christmas campaign will bring with it a greater boost in the labor market this year than in 2023. Specifically, they are expected 18.2% more hires than last year for the same dateswhen Black Friday and the subsequent Cyber ​​Monday generated 98,955 jobs to meet the wave of purchases. “This period, which traditionally marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping campaign, represents a key opportunity for economic growth, job creation and increased sales for numerous companies in all sectors,” explains the General Director of Labor. Randstad Temporary, Andrés Menéndez.
“With the arrival of Black Friday begins “one of the most important seasons of the year for trade and logistics”he adds. Specifically, it is expected that 67.5% of the contracts signed on the occasion of these discount days will be concentrated in the transport and logistics sector, which is expected to create almost 79,000 additional jobs. This represents a 26% growth in hiring compared to last year’s pre-Christmas campaign.
This sector is key to guaranteeing the supply of businesses. It remains to be seen if Black Friday and the surrounding days pass normally. Workers in the sector road transport have called for six days of strike starting next October 28 coinciding, among other dates, with Black Friday -and its eve- and, later, the December long weekend. Among other measures, they demand a reduction in the retirement age to minimize accidents.
In the case of trade, the expected impact is more limited, although still higher than in 2023. According to Randstad calculations, 38,000 jobs will be created in stores in the dates close to Black Friday to prepare for the shopping spree. This is a volume of contracts 4.8% higher than last year, which represents 32% of the total expected signatures.
Catalonia will lead the hiring
The impact of this purchasing period is heterogeneous at the territorial level. Half of the planned contracts will be grouped in just three communities autonomous. Randstad predicts the creation of 20,620 jobs in Catalonia, 20,115 in Andalusia and 19,110 in Madrid. These are figures 21%, 12% and 20% higher respectively than last year. They are followed by Galicia, the Basque Country, Valencia, Castilla-La Mancha and the Canary Islands, with more than 5,000 signatures expected in each.
On the other hand, the greatest increases in job creation are expected in areas that have a very low weight on total hiring, as is the case of La Rioja, Navarra, Castilla-La Mancha, Aragón, Asturias and Castilla y León. In these communities, between 42% and 24% more contracts are expected to be signed than last year at the same time. In terms of jobs, it is expected to generate around 3,800 jobs in Castilla y León and Murcia, 3,320 in Aragón, 2,220 in the Balearic Islandsaround 1,500 in Asturias, Cantabria, Navarra and Extremadura and less than a thousand in La Rioja.
