FOREIGN employment has reached historic highs as more than 3 million workers are now registered in Spain.
Social Security has gained 230,400 foreign members over the past year, marking a 7.9% annual increase.
It brings the total figure to 3.15 million as having officially registered as employed in Spain.
The figures have raised eyebrows, as Spain’s Instituto Nacional de Estadistica (INE) indicates that the country’s foreign-born population surpassed 10 million for the first time as of early 2026,.
Foreign workers now account for 14.4% of all Social Security contributors.
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Spain added 74,700 jobs over the last month thanks to the newly registered workers, which is a 2.4% increase within a single month.
The largest increase came from Moroccans (+11,740), Colombians (+11,367), and Romanians (+6,789), alongside notable rises among Venezuelans, Italians and Peruvians.
Over the past year, Columbia (+39,700), Venezuela (+36,400), Morocco (+32,300), and Peru (+16,600) have driven the biggest gains.
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However, when compared to the total number of foreign people in Spain, this means roughly only 31% are formally employed.
This percentage accounts for children, retirees and others outside the labour market.
Experts say migrants are filling labour shortages in demanding sectors, often involving longer hours, lower protection and smaller pensions.
Despite public concern over immigration, economic research has found ‘there is no evidence to support the claim that the arrival of immigrants harms the employment opportunities of native-born workers,’ according to Raquel Carrasco, a professor of Economics at the University of Madrid.
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The trend is expected to continue with the government’s plan to regularise over 500,000 migrants who are already living in Spain.
Migration Minister Elma Saiz said foreign workers have played a key role in recent growth, noting that 42.9% of jobs created since the labor reform are directly correlated with foreign nationals.
‘Foreign worker registration continues to show extraordinary growth from other countries that has a positive impact on the system as a whole,’ Saiz said. ‘[Workers from other countries] contribution to our labor market is key.’
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Growth in the workforce is also being fueled by entrepreneurship.
Spain now has over half a million self-employed foreign nationals, with numbers rising by 6% in the past year.
Of the 37,500 new self-employed workers added in the last year, 76% were foreigners.
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