La afiliación de trabajadores extranjeros marca cifras récord y explica el 41% de los nuevos empleos

The Social Security registered 2,976,074 foreign affiliates in March, once the seasonality and the calendar effect were discounted, after adding 4,263 occupied in the month and 190,601, in the last year. It would therefore account for more than 41% of the employment created, given that the total number of employed persons in the system increased by 161,491 employed persons.        

A percentage that coincides with that recorded in the original series, given that of the 455,679 jobs computed in the last year, 187,086 correspond to foreign people.

The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, has valued 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. Not only are they essential in strategic sectors, they are also gaining weight in high value-added activities. Spain is today a stronger, more diverse country with more opportunities thanks to its contribution.”

Likewise, Minister Saiz stressed that “more than four out of ten new jobs created have been occupied by people who have chosen Spain as their place to develop their work activity and contribute to our Social Security system, a fact that highlights the importance of regular migration for the economic growth of the country.”

 

In average terms and without seasonalizing, that is, in the original series, Social Security counted 2,921,205 participants from other countries, after adding 46,807 foreign workers, a significant growth in a month of March without the effect of Holy Week and which, in addition, has been characterized by a very adverse meteorology.

In the context of general membership, foreign workers already account for 13.9% of the total number of employed, seven tenths more than a year ago. In the original series without seasonalization, they represent 13.7%, over the national total.

High value-added activities

In the last seven years, the presence of foreign workers in more specialized productive sectors such as Information and Communications has increased, registering an increase of 5.7 and Scientific and Technical Professional Activities (+3.4%).

General regime

In line with what happens with native workers, in March, 83.5% of foreign affiliates fell under the General Social Security System, reaching 2,439,776 workers.

If we look at the sectors, in the last 12 months, the affiliation of foreigners to the General Regime has grown by around 6.7% and in five sectors there have been increases of around 9%. As already mentioned, the Transport and Storage sector leads the membership of foreigners with 25.6% more; it is followed by Water Supply (+10.6%), Administrative Activities (+9.5%), Manufacturing (+9.2%), Sanitary Activities (+9.2%), Construction (+8.8%).

The year-on-year growth in the membership of foreigners is also very remarkable in activities with high added value, where there is a notable growth in Financial Activities (8.8%), Scientific and Technical Professional Activities (7.8%) and Information and Communications, which increases by 6.3%.

The distribution by sector in both the General System and Self-Employed Workers shows a growing diversification.

More than 8,400 new self-employed so far this year

In terms of distribution by regime, it is worth noting the increase in self-employed workers from other countries. In the first quarter of the year, the Social Security has added 8,423 foreign workers to the Special Regime of Self-Employed Workers (RETA), of which 4,480 correspond to the last month.

The month of March totaled 476,039 self-employed workers, a figure that increases month by month and that in year-on-year terms has experienced an increase of 7.8%. Self-employed workers from other countries account for 14% of the total number of self-employed workers in Spain.

The increase in the number of RETA members in the last twelve months has been particularly pronounced in the Information and Communications sector, which has grown by 33.9%, as well as Professional Scientific and Technical Activities, which rises by 17.5%.

More than 27,000 affiliated Ukrainian workers

As for the countries of origin, 31.3% are workers from countries of the European Union.

Of all nationalities, Morocco tops the list of countries from which the largest number of contributors comes, followed by Romania, Colombia, Italy, Venezuela and China.

In the March balance sheet, of the total number of affiliated people from other countries, about 1.7 million are men and almost 1.3 million are women - a figure that reaches 43.1% since before the pandemic (December 2019). The number of women members exceeds 43.5 per cent of the total number of foreign workers.

Among other nationalities, there are 74,665 members from Ukraine, 27,087 more than in February 2022, when the war had not yet begun, representing a growth of 60%.

The majority of workers from Ukraine, about 82%, are in the General System (they are salaried) and 17.9% are self-employed.

 
Additional information in Excel and on the web: 
https://w6.seg-social.es/PXWeb/pxweb/es