Lack of qualifications holding back Portugal’s economy

The Bank of Portugal has identified a lack of a qualified workforce to meet the changing face of company innovation as one of the main problems for employment creation in Portugal.
The difficulty in contracting specialised staff is a new phenomena which is limiting productive capacity and constraining investment.
In a bulletin published on Thursday, the BdP predicts that Portugal’s employment market will continue to develop favourably. Total employment should grow for the forseeable future but at a lower rate given restrictions in the supply of jobs that meet markert requirements in the employment market.
“Specific constraints to the growth of the Portuguese economy perisist and will continue to do so in the medium to long terms
And Portugal’s national productivity is also being hampered by the under capitalisation of companies according to the Council for Productivity which released its first report on Friday.
The rate of productive growth in Portugal has drifted significantly away from that of other countries in the Euro Zone.
It is a trend that seems to be more associated with a low level of available capital per worker than a lack of efficiency in the workplace.
“Recently, the growth in work productivity in Portugal remains relatively sluggish compared with the performance of the Euro Zone.
“This slowdown in recent years can be explained by the fact that Portugal’s economic recovery after 2013 has been accompanied by a significant increase in employment in intensive skilled manpower sectors and more limited capital accumulation” states the report.