For the third consecutive year, reality has exceeded forecasts for the Spanish economy. On average, 25 research institutions and departments calculated that Spain's gross domestic product (GDP) would increase by around 2.1%, while it ultimately grew by 2.8%, a difference of seven-tenths of a percentage point. Ceprede-UAM (Center for Economic Forecasting-Autonomous University of Madrid) and CEEM-URJC (Center for Economic Studies of Madrid-King Juan Carlos University) came closest to the final result, with a forecast of 2.5%, a deviation of three-tenths of a percentage point from the actual growth.

Jaume Guardiola is stepping aside and leaving public life; at least for the time being. The current president of the Círculo de Economía and chairman of the board of trustees of the Esade Foundation is retiring. Last week, the changeover at the Círculo took effect. Professor Teresa Garcia-Milà, and this week the replacement at the head of the Esade Foundation, Anna Xicoy, has been made official. Guardiola makes way for two women, who in both cases will be the first to hold these positions. Former CEO of Banc Sabadell and previously of BBVA, Guardiola also chaired the economic committee of Barça between 2021 and 2022. As life would have it, the former banker was the host of the Círculo conferences in which BBVA's takeover bid for Sabadell, the two banks of his life, was.

The outbreak of the pandemic caused job offers to plummet by 46% last year. Even so, the three sectors that pulled more of the cart and generated more jobs were the commercial or sales, IT and logistics. This emerges from the 2020 annual report on the state of the labour market that was jointly developed employment website Infojobs and Esade and has been presented on Thursday.