GAPS THAT IMPEDE CONSTRUCTION GRADUATES ENTERING THE SPANISH LABOUR MARKET

The global economic crisis that has hit the European Union economy has also strongly affected the construction industry, although with a different degree of intensity between countries. Spain has been one of the European countries where the economic crisis affected most the construction industry. In the Spanish case, it is recorded that in the last three years, more than a million jobs in the construction sector were lost. The increase in the unemployment rate is particularly worrisome for recent graduates in the construction industry. There is therefore a significant need to adapt the graduate programmes in order to ensure that graduates have the adequate skills required by the labour market. The aim of this paper is to identify the major gaps that impede construction graduates entering the Spanish labour market. For this purpose, a questionnaire was undertaken to postgraduate students of the last two classes (2011 and 2012) of a Master degree programme in construction management at the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Spain). A statistical analysis of the survey was developed. This way, responses of the students can highlight what are the main difficulties encountered to find a job. This study also shows the way to further improvements of skills of the professionals in the construction sector claimed by the industry.