A sectoral analysis of the future challenges facing the Spanish economy

This paper studies the relative position of various sectors of activity in the face of the main structural challenges for the Spanish economy. First, as regards the challenge of boosting medium-term growth, we review the sectoral developments on the productivity side, analysing human and technological capital and business dynamics within each sector. Second, the sectors are classified on the basis of their resilience to the different structural transformations currently in the pipeline for the main economies, such as technological and digital transformation, energy transition and population ageing. To this end, the information from a very broad set of sectoral indicators has been summarised in a narrow set of composite indicators in order to classify the productive sectors according to the relative degree of exposure to each of these challenges. Our results show that services relating to professional, scientific and technical activities, information and communication, and financial and insurance activities, as well as the manufacture of machinery, computer, electronics and pharmaceutical products, are well placed in terms of both productivity and resilience. However, in general these sectors have little weight in the Spanish economy. By contrast, accommodation and food service activities, the primary sector and transport services are the most vulnerable in the dimensions analysed.