The OECD sees Spain as a “leader in connectivity in Europe” on account of its intensive fiber optic community | Economy | EUROtoday

Spain has emerged as a “leader in connectivity in Europe.” That is among the conclusions of the second report on the outlook for the digital financial system in 2024, printed this Tuesday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This progress is due, based on the group, to a mixture of strategic public insurance policies, vital investments and efficient use of European funds. Connectivity infrastructure, significantly fiber optics, has skilled notable development within the final decade, putting the nation in a privileged place in comparison with its European friends. In 2016, solely 35% of mounted broadband connections in Spain used fiber optics. By 2023, that determine has shot as much as 86%, an achievement that consultants say is attributed to “a combination of wholesale access regulation that stimulated competition and the allocation of public funds.”

With a finances that exceeds 20 billion {dollars} (about 18.9 billion euros), it’s the State that has invested essentially the most in digital methods out of a complete of 19 circumstances analyzed. The enhance has come largely from the restoration funds of the European Union, however different international locations of the Twenty-seven, corresponding to Italy and Germany, are under with 18.3 billion {dollars} (17.2 billion euros) and 4.494 million (4.2 billion of euros), respectively. The fee that Spain invests can be nicely above the typical by way of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with an expenditure of 1.5%. It is greater than half a proportion level above what neighboring international locations make investments.

One of the keys to this progress has been the regulation of wholesale entry. In 2016, Spain applied a technique that allowed different operators to entry fiber infrastructure in areas the place there was not sufficient competitors. This incentivized personal funding, whereas guaranteeing broader entry. In 2021, the geographic areas thought of “competitive markets” expanded, permitting for better flexibility in regulatory obligations and additional encouraging growth. This development has additionally been pushed by help from the European Regional Development Fund, which funded key packages to carry next-generation broadband to rural areas. These initiatives have helped shut the digital divide between city and rural areas, based on the OECD.

Despite the progress, Spain and the remainder of the group’s member international locations nonetheless lack insurance policies that facilitate labor transitions. The doc insists on the necessity to prepare staff, particularly those that occupy jobs prone to automation. Only a 3rd of nations have enough insurance policies to guard staff, whereas virtually 85% have applied social insurance policies to cowl customers from abusive practices and regulate using new applied sciences. This signifies that, though there are efforts to shut digital gaps in each day life, a better give attention to labor insurance policies is important within the face of the rise of Artificial Intelligence.

In any case, the group sends a reassuring message to those that imagine that new applied sciences will find yourself destroying tens of millions of jobs, though it factors out that many should be tailored. Even jobs most vulnerable to automation, corresponding to manufacturing or administrative duties, require key expertise that machines can not but replicate. And though they signify solely a small proportion of complete manufacturing, it is going to be important to maintain folks in these positions. The consultants element that between 2012 and 2021 the group’s international locations skilled development in digitalized employment with out this implying the web destruction of employment, though the expansion was a lot decrease in these positions with a excessive threat of automation (6%) than these with a decrease degree (18%).

Instead of utterly changing workers, firms might want to prepare them. The OECD insists that in international locations corresponding to Germany, France and the United States there was a increase in demand for social expertise, vital considering and creativity. At the identical time, extra routine duties, corresponding to fundamental knowledge administration or administrative duties, lose relevance.

A weak level is the incorporation of ladies into new applied sciences. Less than 1.5% of 15-year-old ladies in OECD international locations aspire to work on this subject, in comparison with virtually 10% of younger males. This is due, partially, to gender stereotypes. Although ladies signify greater than half of graduates in life sciences and associated fields, solely 22.7% of these acquiring an ICT diploma are ladies. This imbalance can be mirrored within the labor market, the place males are three to seven occasions extra prone to work as specialists on this sector, perpetuating wage and alternative gaps.