Jobs Simply

My girlfriend and I want to move to Barcelona. Is it possible for us to find jobs there?

My girlfriend is Finnish but can speak English just fine. I speak English. Before we move we definitely plan on learning as much Spanish and Catalan as possible because we know that will give us a leg up on finding a job. Which is more important, knowing Spanish or Catalan for living and working in Barcelona? Is it possible for us to even find decent jobs there?

Public Comments

1. You and a 100,000 Brits and other Europeans all trying that Take a long vacation there first and scout out possibilities
2. Depends where you are from, if the UK then you will have "just" as good a chance as getting hired as anyone else from the EU, other than that then it will require visa's.....I would go and visit first and try to get a job lined up, unemployment is just as high throughout the whole of europe as it is most of the rest of the world, only difference is that they WILL give jobs to the spanish first.
3. HI: I'm Catalan from Barcelona. Both Catalan (the original language in Catalonia) and Spanish are official in Catalonia. For the beginning I would say it would be better to learn Spanish, since all Catalan speakers like myself also speak fluent Spanish but (unfortunately) not all people whose origin is not Catalan can do it. However it would be advisable to learn the most important words in Catalan because if you go to a shop with a sign that says "TANCAT" only in Catalan you should know that it means "closed". But if you plan to settle down and live longer in Barcelona I strongly recommend you learn Catalan. Regarding jobs: If this question had been posed two years ago I would have said that it was OK but now the situation is not the best. The world recession has hit Spain very hard and unemployment is extremely high. Spain has had an incredible economic boom in the last 10 years but part of this was based on real state and building, which could not last forever. Now most other European countries are leaving the recession behind but it will still take years in Spain so you can try to get a job but it's difficult. IIn a call centre of something like that with people who speak foreign languages you don't even need Spanish or Catalan but the salary is rather low there. Last years most jobs removed were in the industry but this year it is the turn services. The situation is hard but we are not wearing rags or starving, as some stupid people on other answers because all unemployed people have two-year subsidies and because families help and support each other more than in countries like the UK.