La afiliación de trabajadores extranjeros impulsa el 41% de nuevos empleos
A percentage that coincides with the one recorded in the initial series, considering that out of the 455,679 jobs calculated in the last year, 187,086 correspond to foreign individuals.
The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration, Elma Saiz, appreciated the data as «the best reflection of the key role of foreign workers in job creation, the strength of our social security, and in the economic growth of our country. They are not essential in strategic sectors, but they increase in importance in aggregate activities due to their value.»
Furthermore, Minister Saiz emphasized that «more than four out of ten new jobs were filled by individuals who chose Spain to develop their work and contribute to our social security system, emphasizing the importance of periodic migration for the economic growth of the country.»
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On average and involuntarily, in the initial series, Social Security counted 2,921,205 affiliates from other countries, after adding 46,807 foreigners, a significant increase in a March, without the effect of Easter and characterized by very adverse weather.
In the overall context, foreign workers already account for 13.9% of the total employed, seven tenths more than a year ago. In the original series without deseasonalization, they represent 13.7% of the national total.
Activities with high added value
In the last seven years, the presence of foreign workers in more specialized productive sectors, such as information and communications, which saw an increase of 5.7%, and professional, scientific, and technical activities (+3.4%).
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The general system
Regarding domestic workers, in March, 83.5% of foreign affiliates were included in the general Social Security system, reaching 2,439,776 workers.
When broken down by sectors, in the last 12 months, the affiliation of foreign individuals to the general system increased by around 6.7%, with five sectors experiencing growth of 9%. As mentioned before, the transportation and storage sector leads in foreign affiliations with a 25.6% increase; followed by water supply (+10.6%), administrative activities (+9.5%), manufacturing (+9.2%), health activities (+9.2%), and construction (+8.8%).
The year-on-year growth of foreign affiliation is also very notable in activities with high added value, where there is a significant increase in financial activities (8.8%), professional and technical activities (7.8%), and information and communications, which increased by 6.3%.
The distribution of sectors both in the general system and among self-employed workers shows a growing diversification.
Over 8,400 new independent workers so far this year
Regarding distribution by systems, the growth of workers contracted from other countries is worth highlighting. In the first quarter of the year, Social Security added 8,423 foreign workers to the special regime for self-employed workers (RETA), of which 4480 are from the last month.
March totaled 476,039 employed workers, a figure that increases month by month and, in year-on-year terms, recorded an increase of 7.8%. Workers from other countries represent 14% of the total self-employed workers in Spain.
The increase in the number of RETA affiliates in the last twelve months was particularly pronounced in the information and communications sector, which increased by 33.9%, as well as professional and technical activities, which increased by 17.5%.
More than 27,000 Ukrainian workers affiliated
Regarding countries of origin, 31.3% are workers from European Union countries.
From the array of nationalities, Morocco leads the list of countries with the highest number of contributors, followed by Romania, Colombia, Italy, Venezuela, and China.
In the balance of March, out of the total individuals affiliated from other countries, approximately 1.7 million are men and nearly 1.3 million are women, marking a 43.1% increase compared to the pre-pandemic period (December 2019) -. The number of female affiliates surpasses 43.5% of the total foreign workers.
Among other nationalities, there are 74,665 affiliates from Ukraine, 27,087 more than in February 2022, before the war had begun, representing a 60% increase.
The majority of workers from Ukraine, around 82%, are in the general system (as employees) and 17.9% are self-employed workers.
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