1,971,060 foreign National Insurance contributors recorded at 30 April

The average number of foreign workers registered with the Spanish Social Security system stood at 1,972,552 in April, 101,377 fewer than in March.

Foreigners account for an average of 10.69% of all National Insurance contributors.

For the first time since October 2014, the year-on-year rate is negative - down 5.46%. This group posted an average of 113,848 fewer workers than in April 2019.

From 1 to 30 April

If we look at the development of contributor numbers over the course of the month, the General Regime recorded a rise of 6,702 foreign contributors between 1 and 30 April. Specifically, the figures were buoyant for the Special System for Agricultural Workers, which posted 10,881 more workers, while the Special System for Domestic Workers saw a decline of 6,091. Discounting these special systems, the General Regime posted 1,912 more contributors.

The Special Regime for Self-Employed workers, for its part, saw a decline of 2,136 foreign contributors over the course of the month, while the Special Regime for Seamen rose by 104 and the Special Regime for Coal Workers fell by two.

Contributor trends were not even throughout the country. Eight autonomous regions posted more foreign contributors between 1 and 30 April, headed up by the Balearic Islands (up 9.33%), Aragon (up 6.11%) and Murcia (up 4.01%). At the other extreme were the Canary Islands, with a drop in foreign contributors of 2.09%, and the autonomous cities of Melilla (down 14.53%) and Ceuta (down 13.2%).

Average contributors

The average number of foreign workers registered with the Spanish Social Security system stood at 1,972,552 in April, 101,377 fewer than in March (down 4.89%). Average contributor numbers rose in the Balearic Islands (up 1.79%) and fell in all other regions, particularly in the Canary Islands (down 9.25%), Cantabria and the Region of Valencia - both down 6.11%.

Of the total number of foreign workers contributing to the Spanish Social Security system in April, 1,220,052 are from non-EU countries while the other 752,500 are from EU countries. Of the total figure, 1,102,250 were men and 870,302 were women.

The largest groups of foreign workers come from Romania (329,951), Morocco (253,624), Italy (119,181) and China (78,442). These countries are followed by Colombia (70,089), Ecuador (66,551), the United Kingdom (64,971), Venezuela (63,616) and Bulgaria (60,510). There were also more than 50,000 workers from Portugal (53,016 in total).

By regime, as is usual, the majority of foreign workers contributing to the Spanish Social Security system fall under the General Regime (1,627,524), a figure that includes the Special System for Agricultural Workers (234,702) and the Special System for Domestic Workers (160,878). This is followed by the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers (340,745), the Special Regime for Seamen (4,247) and the Special Regime for Coal Workers (36).

On average, the General Regime lost 5.49% of foreign contributors over the month. All sectors lost numbers, except Health Activities (up 3.12%) and the Special System for Agricultural Workers (up 1.45%). The sectors hardest hit were Construction (down 14.61%) and Public Administration (down 10.04%).

For its part, the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers saw a 1.97% decline in foreign contributors in April.

Year-on-year change

The average number of foreign contributors was down 113,848 on April last year. For the first time since October 2014, the year-on-year rate of foreign contributors is negative - down 5.46%. Most regions have lost foreign contributors in the last year, particularly the Balearic Islands (down 15.16%) and the Canary Islands (down 10.83%). This figure only rose in Navarre (up 1.13%) and the Basque Country (up 0.27%).

The number of foreign workers registered under the General Regime has fallen by 6.75% over the last year, while the number of self-employed workers has risen by 1.27%.

Non official translation