Companies are taking workers from one another
Across the sun-warmed economies of southern Europe, a paradox has taken hold: the money to rebuild has arrived, the will to rebuild has returned, but the hands to do the building have not. Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece find themselves in a moment where post-pandemic ambition outpaces human capacity, as EU recovery funds sit ready while construction firms compete fiercely for a shrinking pool of skilled workers. It is a reminder that prosperity cannot be legislated into existence — it must be built, brick by brick, by people who are there to lay them.
- Southern Europe's construction sector has roared back to life after the pandemic, but the workers needed to sustain that recovery have not returned in sufficient numbers.
- Companies are poaching laborers from one another and driving wages to levels that strain project budgets — specialized tradespeople like welders can now command almost any price they choose.
- In Portugal, wages in construction surged 8.7 percent in April and 6.5 percent in May, even as output growth began to slow — a warning sign that the labor crunch is already biting.
- EU-funded infrastructure projects across the region carry fixed deadlines and fixed budgets, both of which are now under threat as labor costs spiral and available workers remain scarce.
- Officials and industry leaders are sounding the alarm: without urgent action on labor supply, the bloc's signature bet on southern Europe's recovery risks arriving late, over budget, or incomplete.
A construção voltou a mover-se no sul da Europa. Depois de a pandemia ter forçado o setor a uma pausa prolongada, Portugal, Espanha, Itália e Grécia assistem ao regresso da procura — e com ela, ao despertar das obras. Mas há um problema que ameaça travar o motor: não há trabalhadores suficientes para construir.
Angelica Donati, que dirige o Donati Immobiliare Group em Itália, começou por ser otimista quanto aos fundos de recuperação da União Europeia. O dinheiro chegaria, os projetos estavam alinhados. Depois chegou a realidade. Encontrar mão de obra tornou-se quase impossível, os poucos trabalhadores qualificados disponíveis podiam ditar o seu preço, e as empresas começaram a roubar pessoal umas às outras. "É muito difícil encontrar mão de obra e os preços enlouqueceram", admitiu ao Financial Times.
O problema não é exclusivamente italiano. Portugal, Espanha e Grécia debatem-se com a mesma escassez. Profissões especializadas — os soldadores em particular — exigem salários que sobrecarregam os orçamentos. Giorgos Stasinos, presidente da Câmara Técnica da Grécia, o órgão consultivo de engenharia do governo, avisa que os projetos financiados pela UE com prazos fixos de conclusão "enfrentarão grandes desafios".
Portugal oferece uma janela sobre esta tensão. Em maio, a produção na construção cresceu 2 por cento face ao ano anterior — mas em abril tinha crescido 3,7 por cento. O emprego no setor subiu 2,3 por cento em maio, mas os salários dispararam 6,5 por cento, depois de em abril terem subido 8,7 por cento. O que estes números revelam é um setor preso entre a recuperação e o constrangimento: o trabalho existe, o dinheiro existe, os trabalhadores não. E à medida que os salários sobem para preencher esse vazio, a aritmética do investimento em infraestruturas começa a desmoronar-se.
Construction is moving again across southern Europe. After the pandemic forced the sector into a holding pattern, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece are watching demand return—and with it, the machinery of development is grinding back to life. But there is a problem that threatens to stall the entire engine: there are not enough people to build.
Italy's Angelica Donati, who runs the Donati Immobiliare Group, was optimistic about the European Union's post-pandemic recovery funds flowing into infrastructure. The money was coming. The projects were lined up. Then reality arrived. Finding workers became nearly impossible. The few skilled laborers available could name their price. Companies began poaching workers from each other, bidding wages higher and higher just to keep projects staffed. "It's really difficult to find labor and prices have gone crazy," Donati told the Financial Times. "There's so much competition. Companies are taking workers from one another."
This is not an Italian problem alone. Portugal, Spain, and Greece are all wrestling with the same shortage. The gap between available workers and the work that needs doing has created a pressure that is beginning to reshape the economics of construction itself. Specialized trades—welders especially—are commanding salaries that strain budgets. Project managers and government officials are starting to ask whether the money from Brussels will even be enough.
In Greece, Giorgos Stasinos, who chairs the Technical Chamber of Greece, the government's engineering advisory body, is watching EU-funded infrastructure projects with fixed completion deadlines. He sees trouble ahead. "Projects financed by the EU that have specific timelines for completion will face major challenges," he warned. The higher wages demanded by skilled workers will become a burden on many initiatives. Budgets will have to expand just to keep pace with labor costs, and even then, projects may not finish on time.
Portugal offers a window into how the sector is moving. In May, construction output rose 2 percent compared to the same month the previous year, according to the National Institute of Statistics. That sounds healthy until you look at April, when growth hit 3.7 percent. The slowdown—a drop of 1.7 percentage points—came from weakness in building construction and civil engineering work. Employment in the sector grew 2.3 percent in May, but wages jumped 6.5 percent, a sign of how desperately companies are competing for workers. In April, wages had climbed 8.7 percent.
What emerges from these numbers is a sector caught between recovery and constraint. The work exists. The money exists. The workers do not. And as wages rise to fill that gap, the math of infrastructure spending begins to break down. Projects that were budgeted at one cost now require another. Timelines that seemed reasonable now look optimistic. The European Union's bet on southern Europe's recovery—the idea that investment in infrastructure would unlock growth—depends on the ability to actually build. Right now, that ability is in question.
Citas Notables
It's really difficult to find labor and prices have gone crazy. There's so much competition. Companies are taking workers from one another.— Angelica Donati, CEO of Donati Immobiliare Group
Projects financed by the EU that have specific timelines for completion will face major challenges.— Giorgos Stasinos, president of the Technical Chamber of Greece
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does a labor shortage in construction matter more now than it would have, say, five years ago?
Because the money just arrived. The EU recovery funds are real and time-bound. You have a window to spend it and build. If you can't find workers, that window closes and the money gets clawed back or redirected. It's not just about slower progress—it's about losing the chance entirely.
So companies are just bidding wages up against each other?
Exactly. When there aren't enough welders, and three projects all need welders, the wage becomes whatever the last company is willing to pay. It's a bidding war. And that cost gets passed into the project budget, which was already set.
Could they just import workers from elsewhere in Europe?
Theoretically, yes. But that takes time, requires language skills, housing, integration. And other countries have the same shortage. There's no surplus of skilled construction workers sitting around waiting to move.
What happens if a major project just can't be completed on time?
The EU funding might not cover the overruns. You're left with an incomplete project, sunk costs, and a gap in whatever infrastructure was supposed to be built. A bridge half-finished is worse than no bridge.
Is this temporary, or a sign of something deeper?
It's both. The pandemic disrupted training pipelines and pushed some workers out of the industry permanently. But it also exposed that southern Europe never built enough capacity in construction trades. That's a longer problem.