For a customer to enter a store and be served by an employee with an intellectual disability should be a completely natural situation. Today, unfortunately, it still isn't. To understand why, we need to change our perspective on what intellectual disability is.

"Our society has not had a serious debate on this topic." This is how Joan B. Casas, dean emeritus of the College of Economists of Catalonia (CEC), expressed himself regarding immigration and its impact on Catalonia. Casas is co-author of a new report presented this Tuesday at the CEC headquarters titled A Useful Migration Policy for Economic and Social Transformation, prepared by the group of experts Economists for Well-being, which outlines the shortcomings of migration policies in Spain and identifies specific solutions so that the arrival of foreign population helps to create an economy that works "for the benefit of the natives, those who have come, and those who may come in the future", in the words of Josep Reyner, another of the co-authors.

Kings League, the company founded by former Barça footballer Gerard Piqué that organizes streaming football tournaments, has filed a collective dismissal procedure (ERO) to lay off 41 of its 83 employees, as reported by the law firm Col·lectiu Ronda in a statement on behalf of the staff.

The Basque group Aernnova has sold one of the two company branches of Serra Soldadura at auction, the Barcelona industrial company it has owned since 2008 and for which it has filed for voluntary liquidation. According to the works councils of Serra Soldadura, the sale will only serve to safeguard 10 of the 190 jobs the company has.

Ficosa's management and unions seal a preliminary agreement to reduce the impact of the redundancy plan (ERO) announced a few weeks ago. The pact – which must be ratified this Friday by the workers – reduces the number of affected people compared to initial forecasts at the historic Viladecavalls plant: while the company initially planned to lay off 172 people, it has finally been agreed to reduce layoffs to 105. In addition, voluntary departures will be prioritized, so once the workforce accepts the conditions, interested workers will have two weeks to decide if they wish to join.

Employment in Catalonia breaks a new record, reaching 4 million. Specifically, according to data released this Tuesday by the Ministry of Social Security, 3.97 million Catalans were registered as affiliates to the organization in May, representing an increase of 1.28% compared to April. This is the second consecutive month that the Catalan labor market has broken the record for active employees. Furthermore, compared to May of last year, 89,882 jobs have been created in Catalonia, placing the figure 2.32% higher year-on-year.

The company Guala Closures—specializing in the manufacture of bottle caps— has notified its staff of its intention to file for a collective redundancy procedure (ERO) at its plant located in Olèrdola (Alt Penedès). According to union sources, the company plans to lay off 82 of the 87 employees working at the center.

Barcelona has already built a digital workforce that rivals any ecosystem in the region. According to the latest Digital talent overview, elaborated by the Mobile World Capital Barcelona foundation, the country's capital already concentrates more than 135,000 information and communication technology professionalsThe calculation of the purchasing power of digital employees is more favorable in Barcelona. If the cost of living in all cities is equated, the country's capital is located just below the European average, which drops to 54,000 euros per year. Some environments, such as London, fall several positions due to the progressive increase in the cost of housing and consumer goods. This, in the words of the director of digital talent at MWCapital, Jordi Arrufí, creates a balance that makes Barcelona more attractive than other competitors. "Salaries are competitive, which is an ambiguous word. They are attractive for companies compared to Northern Europe, but the worker has a significantly higher standard of living than the city average," considers the expert. That is, "with lower salaries, digital workers in Barcelona live better".

A report by the Council for Work, Economy and Social Affairs of Catalonia (CTESC) delves into the role of newcomers in the country's economic fabric and focuses on the significant differences they have compared to nationals regarding occupational conditions. A clear example of this inequality is found in salaries: according to the study, the gross annual salary of foreigners is 22.3% lower than that of Spanish nationals. This difference currently translates into an average of 6,891.64 euros less gross per year.

It was planned that this Wednesday morning the future of the historic Barcelona industrial company Serra Soldadura would reach a turning point. After Aernnova – owner of the company since 2008 – filed for voluntary liquidation bankruptcy to dissolve Serra Soldadura, this Wednesday the auction of the two companies that form it was scheduled. However, as union sources explain to ARA, the auction has been declared void after no potential buyer has come forward. "We didn't expect this," explain CGT sources, which holds the union majority in the company.

One in four Catalan workers are exposed to the implementation of artificial intelligence. Specifically, a study by the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce details that 26.5% of employed individuals have medium or high exposure, while 29% of workers would not experience any impact from the technology. By gender, women also present a higher percentage of exposure at all ages, and the gap is even more pronounced between those aged 35-44 and those aged 45-54, where 22.6% and 23.8%, respectively, could be highly affected. It should be noted that the study's exposure level does not solely measure the risk of substitution, but also the potential for task transformation.

In recent years, the role of immigration has been placed right at the center of the country's social debate. And, in economic terms, arguments for and against have suggested that it both enriches and impoverishes us. But, really, what are the jobs that immigrants hold in Catalonia? What type of foreigner has more weight in each sector? This year's extraordinary regulation has amplified the debate on whether demographic growth will or will not be sustainable in the long term. For now, a large part of the business community has not hesitated to position itself in favor, seeing foreign talent as the best way to fill the gaps in the Catalan labor market.

When Noemí Selfín felt strong enough to return to the labor market after 16 years away from work, she knew she had to reinvent herself. At 52, with a disability resulting from an aggressive cancer and a career interrupted for over a decade by treatment, she sensed her resume would hardly compete on equal terms. “So many years out of the labor market made my profile unattractive. I needed to retrain,” she explains. During the pandemic, she began to orient herself towards tech profiles and enrolled in one of the tech bootcamps – intensive training courses – driven by Eurofirms Foundation.

During the last ten years, the number of foreign workers in Catalonia has doubled and they now total 773,000 employed. A report by Foment del Treball estimates the increase in this group between the first quarter of 2016 and that of 2026 at 386,700 people. The strong growth has boosted their weight in the net new employment created in Catalonia over the last decade, to the point of absorbing more than half (52.3%). This figure places the country almost 15 percentage points above the national average, which stands at 37.5%, despite La Rioja (55.2%), Castilla y León (58.9%), and the Basque Country (59.2) having larger proportions.

The president of Pimec, Antoni Cañete, has proposed an agreement with the government, parties, and unions to utilize the 60 million from the agreement with Social Security to strengthen primary care and reduce absenteeism. In this way, he insists on the warning he already gave in an interview with ARA, in which he warned that these resources are not being executed and must be returned.

This year, May Day arrives amidst a climate of uncertainty for thousands of workers in the country. The start of 2026 has not been particularly good for employment: according to the Active Population Survey (EPA) published this Tuesday, Catalonia added 84,400 unemployed people in absolute terms between January and March, which confirms the worst inter-quarterly increase since 2009. This figure places the unemployment rate at 10.12%, compared to 8.24% at the end of last year. In contrast, for the country as a whole, the unemployment rate was 10.83%, the lowest level in a first quarter since 2008.

The first quarters are traditionally not good for employment, as they are heavily marked by the end of the Christmas campaign. This year, Catalonia added 84,400 unemployed in absolute terms between January and March, 24% more than the previous quarter, the worst quarter-on-quarter increase since 2009. It is the second autonomous community with the highest increase, only behind the Balearic Islands, where the number of unemployed people soared by 76.55%.According to the active population survey (EPA) published this Tuesday, the Catalan unemployment rate in the first quarter stood at 10.12%. The National Institute of Statistics (INE) estimates that in Catalonia there were 435,600 people who wanted to join the labor market and could not. At the end of last year, however, unemployment stood at 8.24%.If we compare it to the first quarter of 2025, then the number of unemployed in Catalonia increased to a lesser extent – by 15.71% –, but it also grew because the beginning of the year is complicated in terms of employment. Last year Catalonia already experienced the worst start to the year since 2012, adding 47,200 new unemployed people, but this year it has broken new records and surpassed that threshold. The professor of labor law at the University of Barcelona (UB), Jordi Garcia, assured l?ARA that these EPA results show a "change in trend" regarding the dynamism of the labor market observed since 2011. "What is happening is no longer a slowdown in growth, but rather a decrease, a drop," he explained, and he contextualized it within a loss of dynamism in the economy in general.More employment

Despite the increase in the unemployment rate, in Catalonia this first quarter there were 16,900 more workers than in the same period last year, an increase of 0.44%. The explanation is that the volume of the active population – that is, of people who work or want to work – grew more than that of the employed population – people with a paid job –. Therefore, in proportion, those who entered to form part of the unemployed grew more than the group of workers, who represented a smaller percentage of the total.Between January and March, 46,300 jobs were destroyed, causing a 1.18% decrease in employment. In absolute numbers, this means that in Catalonia there were 3.87 million employed people, fewer than the almost four million in the last quarter of last year.Concern among social agents

Social agents have made a negative reading of the data. While Catalan UGT has opined that they show a "worrying evolution" of the Catalan labor market, CCOO de Catalunya has lamented that "they cannot be explained solely by the weight of seasonality". From the employers' associations, Foment has opined that the data are "especially negative" and Pimec has argued that the rise in unemployment "is not explained by a change in economic expectations".For their part, the Minister of Business and Labor, Miquel Sàmper, has committed to studying the data with "diligence". "In the registered unemployment so far, the trend is not this", stated the Secretary of Labor, Paco Ramos. They will analyze "whether trade or the tourism sector has had an impact" or if, on the other hand, the de-seasonalization strategy needs to be "strengthened". In parallel, however, Sàmper has not wanted to fail to highlight that the increase in the active population to record figures is "positive news because it shows that more people want to work in Catalonia", where there is "a dynamic market that works".Unemployment rises by 9.34% across the State

In the State as a whole, the unemployment rate was 10.83%, the lowest level in a first quarter since 2008. The number of employed people broke a new record, exceeding the threshold of 22.5 million people for the first time, after adding 532,300 workers in the last year. In contrast, Spain counted 2.7 million unemployed, 9.34% more than last quarter, but 2.89% less than in the same period last year.In absolute terms, however, between January and March, 170,300 jobs were destroyed in the State compared to the last quarter of last year. In seasonally adjusted terms, the balance was positive, showing a net incorporation of 96,800 people into the labor market, a 0.43% growth in the employment rate. Professor Jordi Garcia has warned that, "whenever someone looks for an excuse, they use the concept of seasonally adjusted", and finds it "difficult to understand that there are very different trends in Catalonia compared to the State". He recalled that Catalonia is a territory "with a lot of economic activity, and that means that if there is a general slowdown, it will probably be felt even more in Catalonia".The year-on-year increase in employment advanced in parallel with the active population, which in the State also reached a new historic high, standing above 25 million people. In the last year, Spain added 447,000 people capable of entering the labor market.

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Nissan announced this Monday to the unions that it has plans to present an employment regulation file (ERO) in three centers in Barcelona, where a total of 569 people work, according to union sources. The possible affected parties are the employees of the technical center of the Zona Franca of Barcelona, where 383 people work, the spare parts center of Prat de Llobregat (Baix Llobregat), with 122 employees, and the flexible areas center, also in Prat, with 64 workers.

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It seems that artificial intelligence has arrived to stay. As happened with other technological revolutions, the fear has set in that it will end up destroying jobs massively. Nothing new. When the internet appeared, the end of many professions was also announced.Beyond opinions, recent studies point in another direction: AI increases worker productivity by around 4% and, in the short term, no significant job destruction has been detected. This does not mean, however, that there will be no changes. There will be, and many.AI will transform tasks, redefine professional profiles, and force adaptation. Just fifteen years ago, almost no one imagined the current demand for artificial intelligence experts. Similarly, today we don't know what the key jobs will be in fifteen years. And this is not an anomaly: it is the usual functioning of technological progress. However, this impact will not be uniform. Medium and large companies start with an advantage, as they can better afford the initial implementation costs. The question is not whether AI will change the labor market, but how and who it will benefit most.The core issue, however, is whether this increase in productivity will translate into better wages. Recent experience suggests skepticism. In other technological revolutions, gains have been unevenly distributed: more qualified profiles have emerged stronger, while workers with more routine tasks have seen their bargaining power reduced.The challenge, therefore, is not only technological, but also social and political. If the benefits of AI are concentrated in a few companies or profiles, the result will be a more unequal labor market. If, on the other hand, it is accompanied by training, adaptation, and certain guarantees, it can become a tool for shared progress.

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The Generalitat has published the 2027 labor calendar, marked by Christmas and May 1st falling on a Saturday, as the Catalan executive reported this Wednesday in a statement. In total there will be 12 holidays in addition to Sundays.

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