Mexico and Spain confront critical logistics and labor shortages

Mexico’s Secretariat of Economy warned that a severe shortage of specialized logistics personnel and certified technicians is hampering the country’s competitiveness, especially in the agro‑food sector that accounts for more than $53 billion in exports and employs 61 million people. The agency says Mexico needs about 150,000 certified logistics technicians each year and calls for better training, certification, and expansion of ports, railways and logistics corridors.

In Spain, business organisations have raised alarms that a lack of qualified workers is threatening key sectors such as hospitality, construction, agriculture, industry and transport. The shortage is seen as a drag on productivity and could affect supply chains, with 35 % of firms reporting difficulties. Construction alone needs roughly 700,000 workers to meet a housing deficit, while the hospitality sector represents 7 % of Spain’s GDP and industry 16 %. Demographic aging, unattractive working conditions and misaligned training programmes are identified as major drivers of the problem.

Both countries view the labor gap as a critical obstacle to economic growth and are calling for coordinated policy and training responses.