Colombia and Venezuela stand out among the countries of origin of foreign workers arriving in Spain, a group that already represents 13.6% of the total number of employees, with an increasingly greater weight in the national market.
The number of foreign affiliates to Social Security grew by 75% in the last ten years, reaching 2.88 million people, at a faster rate than the occupation in general (23.3%), according to the data published this week by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration.
A change in the composition of the sending countries stands out, since if ten years ago, China and Ecuador completed the “top 5” of the most frequent nationalities among foreign workers in Spain -behind Romania, Morocco and Italy-, in Currently Colombia and Venezuela are in third and fifth position.
Colombians, who occupied sixth position, quadrupled in ten years, going from 54,690 members in 2015 to 222,217 last September, which places them in third place.
Position of Venezuelans
For their part, Venezuelans occupied the nineteenth position in the table and are now fifth, multiplying by ten the 16,631 employed in 2015, reaching 168,019 today.
Romania has gained 45,000 members and remains the first foreign nationality with 337,392 workers, followed by Morocco, with 325,611 employed, 135,000 more, and Italy, which fell to fourth position with 199,942, 122,700 more, while Chinese workers fell in the last decade to seventh position.
By activities, foreign workers represent 44% among domestic workers, 33.8% in agriculture, 28.8% in hospitality and 24.6% in agriculture.
Less occupational segregation
“Immigration explains 90% of the growth of the active population in Spain since 2021,” they recently highlighted from the Foundation for Applied Economic Studies (Fedea), whose analyzes conclude that foreign workers are increasingly in more occupations and reject that this situation harms the nationals in any way.
“There is no evidence to support the claim that the arrival of immigrants has harmed the employment opportunities of natives,” summarized Fedea researcher Raquel Carrasco, who also ruled out impacts on salaries.
This increase in foreign workers is also occurring with lower rates of occupational segregation, that is, they are gaining presence in more sectors, especially among men and thanks in part to the lower access barrier allowed by the language of the nationalities that are gaining weight.
Since 2019, according to the Fedea report, the participation of immigrants has increased in practically all occupations, although they still have a lot of weight in some such as domestic work or caregiving.
Madrid / EFE
#Colombia #Venezuela #increase #foreign #employment #Spain #years
