Los afiliados extranjeros rozan en enero los 3 millones tras aumentar más de un 8% en el último año

The Social Security registered 2,956,007 foreign affiliates in January, once the seasonality and the calendar effect were discounted, after adding 28,409 occupied. In the last twelve months, the number of people employed in other countries has increased by 8%. The year begins with a new peak in seasonally adjusted foreign employment, in line with the trend that continued throughout 2024.

Since the implementation of the labor reform in 2022, the system has recorded an increase of 573,223 workers from other countries, that is, 25.3% more. This means that 45.1% of the employment created in the last three years corresponds to foreign workers.

In the context of general membership, foreign workers account for 13.8% of the total employed, six tenths more than a year ago.

Average affiliation

In average terms and without seasonalizing, that is, in the original series, Social Security counted 2,843,029 affiliates from other countries, which means 211,436 more in the last year and 37,789 less than in December, in line with the months of January.

The highest number of foreign people who contribute to Social Security is recorded in both the original and the seasonally adjusted series of a month of January.

31.1% 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.

Of the total number of affiliated persons from other countries, there are 1.6 million men and the number of foreign women stands at 1.2 million, after growing by 35.2% since before the pandemic. The number of female members exceeds 43 per cent of the total number of foreign workers.

More indefinite employment and less temporality

The quality of employment among workers of foreign origin has seen a marked improvement, with a significant increase in open-ended contracts following the labour reform.

In particular, the data of the General System reflect a structural change in the stability of their employment. While in the period 2017-2021 only 59% of foreign workers had an indefinite contract, in January 2025 this percentage has increased to 88.7%, which represents an advance of 29 percentage points.

At the same time, the temporality has been drastically reduced, going from 41% in the period 2017-2021 to 11.3% today. This evolution places foreign workers in a better position within the labor market, with higher levels of stability and protection.

The growth of indefinite employment in this group has been greater than that of all workers, which demonstrates the positive impact of the reform in improving their working conditions.

This change is part of the general trend of consolidation of indefinite employment, which not only benefits Spanish workers, but also strengthens the integration and job security of employed foreigners.

Regimes and sectors

Overall, 83.4 per cent of foreign affiliates were covered by the General Social Security System, with 2,371,289 workers. The proportion is similar to the group of affiliates; about 83.8% is also included in this Regime.

In the last 12 months, in all sectors of activity, the membership of foreign persons in the General System has grown by about 7.9% and in three it is above 10%: Transportation and Storage (25%), Water Supply (11.8%), Administrative Activities (10.4%).

The distribution by sector shows a diversification in the areas of employment with greater occupation of workers of foreign origin.

High value-added activities

On the other hand, this year-on-year increase is also very remarkable in activities of high added value where there is a notable growth within this General Regime in sectors such as Financial Activities (9.5%), Information and Communications, which increases by 7.2% and in Scientific and Technical Professional Activities, with an increase in the last year of 6.2%.

By activity, foreign workers account for more than 20% of the total membership in: Hospitality (27.8%), Agriculture, Livestock, Hunting, Forestry and Fishing (24.9%) and Construction (21.5%). In the Special System of Domestic Workers, more than 43% are foreign workers and in the Special Agrarian System, 35%.

For its part, the Special System of Self-Employed Workers counted 467,355 contributors from other nationalities, that is, 13.9% of the total number of self-employed workers. In the last year, foreign affiliates in this regime have increased by 8.4%.

More than 70,000 Ukrainian affiliates

Among other nationalities, there are 72,011 members from Ukraine, 24,752 more than in January 2022, when the war had not yet begun, representing a growth of 52.4%.

The majority of workers from Ukraine, about 82.5%, are in the General System (they are salaried) and 17.4% are self-employed.

Additional information in Excel and on the web:

https://w6.seg-social.es/PXWeb/pxweb/es