Spain – Recovery and Resilience Plan

With a total investment of €69.5 billion, the Spanish Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) aims to stimulate growth, enhance societal resilience and tackle unemployment (especially for young people). It puts forward a set of measures to foster digital skills in education, support the digital transformation of the public and private sector, and promote lifelong learning and training at all levels of society. 

The European Commission assessed positively the Spanish RRP, endorsing on 16 June 2021. The plan, initially submitted on 30 April, invest €69.5 billion (2nd largest) to support sustainable growth, digital transformation, education and skills, as well as overall resilience on a national level. The reforms and investments in the RRP with focus on education and skills, digitalisation, research and innovation are expected to  generate new economic growth and job creation in Spain. Actions in the plan cover the period between 2021 to 2026, with a large part of the activities on course to be implemented by 2023.
 

Overview and objectives

The Spanish RRP is structured around four cross-cutting policy objectives (green transformation, digital transformation, social and territorial cohesion, gender equality) and includes 30 components. The plan puts forward a set of measures that aim to improve the functioning of the labour market, upgrade education and training across the country, digitalise public services and business sectors - and ultimately set the foundations to enable the twin digital and green transition.   

28,2% (with an associated budget of 19,6 billion) of the plan’s total budget is dedicated to digital objectives. In particular, €3.6 billion will go towards digital skills training at all levels of the Spanish population, modernising education, and increasing the number of professionals in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. The plan foresees an investment of €3.2 billion to digitalise public administration and make digital services (in key areas like health, justice, employment or social services) available and accessible to all online. Another €3 billion will be used to boost the digital transformation of businesses, with a focus on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and the self-employeds. The Spanish RRP further prioritizes digital connectivity to decrease the urban-rural divide and expand deployment of 5G with an investment of 2.887 billion, accounting for 15% of the total budget share for digital objectives; and it’s estimated that the full investment will contribute to the digital target.

Key measures to support digital skills

Component 19 of the plan focuses entirely on digital skills. The plan foresees key measures to support Spain’s digital transition through substantial investments across 4 priorities for digital skills.

Transversal digital skills

Actions in the Spanish plan aim to foster lifelong learning and transversal skills for all, and develop digital skills at all levels of society. This includes investment in inclusion actions targeting older people, making digital skills training available and accessible to vulnerable groups and people from disadvantaged backgrounds, and the development of high-quality digital resources in Spanish. Reforms in this area also aim to tackle the lack of diversity within the ICT sector and encourage more women to develop advanced digital skills, and embark on careers in the fields of science and technology. Other actions include awareness-raising campaigns, the provision of online courses and digital skills training in all regions and areas in Spain, and activities aiming to increase the digital competences of the general population.

The digital transformation of the education

The Spanish Plan puts forward measures to support and enhance digital skills at all levels and particularly in the context of the education system. Activities within this area aim to improve educational outcomes for everyone, by tackling early school leaving, developing a new curriculum that reflects key competences (including digital), and reducing skill disparities in rural and socially excluded areas of Spain. 

An investment of €1.4 billion will boost the digitalisation of the Spanish education system, ensuring digital infrastructure and equipment is available throughout schools and teachers have access to advanced digital skills training. In the area of education, the creation of 1,000 service units to support vulnerable students and the implementation of a programme to support and guide low performing pupils will be put in place to prevent early-school leaving. In addition, access to digital learning is expected to be significantly boosted through investments in digital skills training through the provision of online courses.  

The plan also foresees support to the Spanish higher education system: actions deployed under the plan will modernise university frameworks and equip teachers with advanced digital skills through targeted trainings. The Spanish government hopes to see 700,000 teachers being digitally trained by 2025.

Digital skills for employment

Actions in the Spanish RRP targeting the labour force aim to reinforce the importance of lifelong learning and reform Vocational Education and Training (VET) on digital skills, in order to improve employment prospects and reduce unemployment on national level. €2 billion will go towards actions aiming to reskill and upskill the labour force by creating 135,000 new places in the VET area.  

One key target group are young people: data from Eurostat shows Spanish youth unemployment as one of the highest in Europe (37%, compared to the national average of 15%). The Spanish plan aims to address this  high unemployment rate amongst youth and at the same time mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people’s employment prospects through an investment of €9 billion. Initiatives in the RRP complement ones outlined in the Spanish Action Plan against Youth Unemployment, estimated at €765 million. 

The digitalisation of public employment services would offer a more effective and accessible support to jobseekers and those in transition between career paths. Measures in the plan also aim to support the resilience of companies, businesses and employers through workforce training initiatives, so they are prepared to meet future challenges. Actions to facilitate labour mobility and encourage cross-border knowledge and skills transfer are expected to contribute to upskilling and reskilling initiatives and promote lifelong learning and technological awareness. 

Digital professionals

The fourth priority is targeting existing vocational training related to digital skills and to create new education resources on cybersecurity and artificial intelligence in digital formats (online open courses – MOOCs). The investment will also cover particular training for around 20000 IT experts and provide scholarships to attract talents in advanced digital skills. This investment aims to support young generations in their professional prospects.