8 Aug, 2024 @ 17:15
2 mins read

Don’t tell the far-right: Foreign-born workers have taken nearly half of all new jobs created in Spain this year – most of which have come in the tourism sector

jobs

THE idea that immigrants are taking our jobs might never have been truer than in Spain, where 40% of new jobs created in the first half of 2024 were filled by foreigners.

To put it into perspective, as of July 1, 2024, only 13.9% of the population of Spain was made up of foreigners.

The latest data from Spains’ social security agency showed that while the Spanish-born workforce increased by 1.8% in the first half of the year, it increased by 8.63% for foreigners.

And when the data is expanded to include dual-nationality citizens, it finds that together with the foreigners they account for 75% of the new jobs created between January and July.

READ MORE: Outrage after 13,000 cruise passengers descend on tiny city in southern Spain in just one day

worker coffee Liam Martens Unsplash
Foreigners account for 40% of new jobs created this year, a quarter of which came in the hospitality sector. Unsplash

According to figures from June, there were 21.39 million workers in Spain, with 2.9 million being foreign.

However, the number of foreign workers has nearly doubled in the last ten years. In 2014 it was just 1.5 million.

In this period, Spain was just starting to recover from a brutal depression brought about by the double-whammy 2008 financial crisis and the 2012 euro crisis, which left 6 million people unemployed.

Unsurprisingly, most of the new job creation has come in Spain’s booming tourism and hospitality sector – the cause of numerous protests in some cities.

Here, 107,523 jobs were created in the first half of 2024, accounting for 25% of the total and far above the 18,446 created in the construction sector.

And according to data from Spain’s Tax Agency, 21% of foreigners work in the hospitality sector. This is followed by 16.4% in commerce and 11.1% in construction.

The eye-opening stats on foreign participation in the labour force should not detract from the booming Spanish economy, however, which grew at 2.6% in the last year.

In the first half of 2024 alone 556,879 jobs were created, while in the same period in 2023 it was 573,669 and for 2022 it was 523,419.

READ MORE: British expats in Spain are warned to get a TIE card ahead of EU’s new entry/exit system

While the foreigners may be snapping up a lot of the jobs, they are not winning when it comes to salaries.

Spanish men still earn by far the most in Spain, with an average salary of €26,448, followed by Spanish women at €21,033 (a full 20% less).

Meanwhile, foreign men earn on average €16,950, while foreign women earn €13,401 (again exactly 20% less), according to the tax agency.

The country that sent the most immigrants to Spain in the last six months is Colombia, with 37,936 – or 16.5% of the total new workers.

Italy comes second with 22,879 (9,9%), then Morocco with 21,488 (9.3%).

Also notable in the creation of jobs in the last six months are Romania (17,115), Venezuela (13,033), Peru (11,180), Argentina (8,441), Senegal (8,372) and Ukraine (5,407). 

In absolute figures, the foreign country that contributed the most members to the Spanish labour market at the end of June was Romania (350,449), with a very narrow margin compared to Morocco (344,631). Colombia (213,506), Italy (198,622) and Venezuela (161,961) complete the top five.

Walter Finch

Walter Finch, who comes from a background in video and photography, is keen on reporting on and investigating organised crime, corruption and abuse of power. He is fascinated by the nexus between politics, business and law-breaking, as well as other wider trends that affect society.
Born in London but having lived in six countries, he is well-travelled and worldly. He studied Philosophy at the University of Birmingham and earned his diploma in journalism from London's renowned News Associates during the Covid era.
He got his first break in the business working on the Foreign News desk of the Daily Mail's online arm, where he also helped out on the video desk.
He then decided to escape the confines of London and returned to Spain in 2022, having previously lived in Barcelona for many years.
He took up up a reporter role with the Olive Press Newspaper and today he is based in La Linea de la Concepcion at the heart of a global chokepoint and crucial maritime hub, where he edits the Olive Press Gibraltar edition.
He is also the deputy news editor across all editions of the newspaper.

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