Stability alone doesn't pay rent.
En las calles y hoteles de Córdoba, miles de trabajadores sostienen una industria turística que mueve la ciudad, pero que no alcanza a moverlos a ellos hacia una vida más holgada. Un estudio de la Universidad de Córdoba revela que la mayoría gana entre quince y veinticinco mil euros al año —un salario que muchos consideran insuficiente para cubrir lo básico— y sin embargo la mayor parte tiene contrato indefinido y declara sentirse satisfecha con su trabajo. Es la paradoja de un sector que ofrece estabilidad sin prosperidad, arraigo sin horizonte, y que enfrenta ahora el riesgo de quedarse sin el relevo generacional que necesita para sobrevivir.
- Los trabajadores del turismo cordobés ganan lo suficiente para quedarse, pero no lo suficiente para vivir sin apremios económicos.
- El 80% tiene contrato indefinido, pero una parte significativa reconoce que su salario no cubre sus necesidades básicas.
- Los jóvenes de entre 25 y 44 años se alejan del sector, atraídos por empleos con mejor imagen, mayor proyección y más formación.
- Son los trabajadores mayores de 45 años —especialmente mujeres— quienes están llenando ese vacío generacional.
- El sector busca soluciones ante la escasez de talento cualificado, pero sin mejorar salarios ni oportunidades de desarrollo, las respuestas serán insuficientes.
Un equipo investigador de la Universidad de Córdoba encuestó a 275 trabajadores del sector hotelero y de restauración entre junio y noviembre del año pasado, y lo que encontró fue un retrato contradictorio: estabilidad contractual y satisfacción laboral conviviendo con salarios que muchos consideran insuficientes. El 55% de los encuestados gana entre quince y veinticinco mil euros anuales; el 35% no llega a ese umbral; solo el 10% lo supera.
El estudio, impulsado desde la Facultad de Ciencias del Trabajo en colaboración con Hostecor y Aehcor, reveló que el 80% de los trabajadores tiene contrato indefinido, y que el 79% trabaja a jornada completa. La precariedad formal, en apariencia, no es el problema principal. El problema es otro: los sueldos no alcanzan.
La satisfacción existe, pero tiene matices. Son los trabajadores con menor formación académica quienes expresan mayor conformidad, valorando la autonomía, el ambiente laboral y la seguridad de su puesto. Sin embargo, los salarios bajos, la escasa promoción interna y la falta de formación dentro de las empresas figuran entre las principales fuentes de malestar.
El sector arrastra además una imagen deteriorada entre las generaciones más jóvenes. Desde 2019, la demanda de empleo turístico entre personas de 25 a 44 años no ha dejado de caer. Son los mayores de 45 —con una presencia creciente de mujeres— quienes sostienen hoy la plantilla. Un sector que retiene a quienes ya están dentro, pero que no logra convencer a quienes aún no han entrado.
A study of Córdoba's tourism sector has mapped the economic reality of the people who staff its hotels and restaurants, and the picture is one of modest wages paired with surprising stability. Researchers from the University of Córdoba surveyed 275 workers between June and November of last year, finding that more than half—55 percent—earn between fifteen and twenty-five thousand euros annually. Another ten percent manage to exceed that ceiling. The remaining third fall below it, some substantially. Yet here is the paradox at the heart of the research: despite wages that many workers themselves say are insufficient to cover basic living costs, the vast majority hold permanent contracts and report high levels of job satisfaction.
The study, conducted by a research group at the Faculty of Labor Sciences in collaboration with Hostecor and Aehcor, the city's main hospitality associations, drew its sample almost entirely from Córdoba residents—95 percent were local, with only 5 percent foreign nationals. Its author, María Jesús Vázquez García, framed the work as an effort to understand the labor market in accommodation and food service while offering practical solutions to employers. What emerged was a sector that, on paper, looks stable. Eighty percent of workers hold indefinite contracts. Only 1.2 percent work through temporary staffing agencies. Six percent have fixed-term arrangements. The rest are either permanent discontinuous workers or full-time employees. Seventy-nine percent work full hours; seventeen percent part-time; three percent reduced schedules.
Yet beneath this surface of contractual security lies a labor market under strain. The research identified a familiar set of problems: a shortage of skilled workers, difficulty retaining talent, and a failure of younger generations to enter the field. The sector carries stigmas—perceptions of low quality, unstable work, limited futures—that have made it increasingly unattractive to people aged twenty-five to forty-four. Since 2019, demand for these jobs among that cohort has declined steadily. Workers over forty-five, by contrast, are gaining ground, particularly women, who now represent 34 percent of the available workforce.
The satisfaction workers report is real, though it clusters in particular ways. Those without university or postgraduate education express the highest contentment, citing autonomy on the job, workplace atmosphere, and the security of knowing their position will continue. This creates what the study calls a "generalized sense of safety." But this satisfaction has limits. A significant portion of employed workers say their pay does not stretch far enough. Insufficient wages rank among the top sources of dissatisfaction, alongside sparse opportunities for advancement and minimal training programs designed to build skills within the company.
What the study reveals, then, is not a sector in collapse but one caught between two truths. Workers value the stability their jobs provide—the permanence, the predictability, the collegial environment. But they cannot live on what they earn. The sector attracts and retains people, but it struggles to attract the right people, in the right numbers, at the right stages of their careers. The young see no future in it. The middle-aged and older fill the gap. And everyone, regardless of satisfaction, knows the money is not enough.
Citas Notables
A significant portion of employed workers say their pay does not stretch far enough to cover basic needs.— University of Córdoba study, cited by María Jesús Vázquez García
Workers report a generalized sense of safety related to job autonomy, workplace atmosphere, and employment continuity.— University of Córdoba study findings
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does a sector with such stable contracts—80 percent permanent positions—still struggle to attract workers?
Because stability alone doesn't pay rent. The study shows workers are satisfied with the work itself, the atmosphere, the autonomy. But they're also saying their wages don't cover basic needs. A permanent contract is a promise to stay; it's not a promise to thrive.
So the young people leaving—they're not fleeing bad management or toxic workplaces. They're doing math.
Exactly. They see the wage ceiling. They see people in their forties and fifties still earning fifteen to twenty-five thousand euros. They do the calculation and choose something else. The sector becomes a place people stay because they're already there, not because they're choosing to arrive.
The study mentions women over forty-five are now 34 percent of the workforce. That's a significant shift. What does that tell us?
It tells us the sector is aging and feminizing simultaneously. Older women may have fewer employment options elsewhere, or they may value the flexibility and social aspects of hospitality work differently than younger workers do. But it also means the sector is losing its pipeline of younger talent across the board.
If you're an employer reading this study, what's the one thing that should worry you most?
Not the wages themselves, necessarily. It's that the study proves you can offer permanent contracts and job satisfaction and still not solve the fundamental problem: you can't attract or keep the people you need. Money matters, but so does perception. The sector has to change how it's seen, or it will keep aging in place.