2,062,871 average foreign National Insurance contributors recorded in August

The average number of foreign contributors fell by 70,035 on August last year (down 3.28%). This variable, which had been negative since the start of the pandemic, has now become positive in seven autonomous regions: Murcia (up 2.91%), Galicia (up 2.49%), La Rioja (up 1.99%), the Basque Country (up 1.44%), Navarre (up 1.16%), Asturias (up 1.16%) and Castile-La Mancha (up 0.59%).

2,045,621 foreign National Insurance contributors were recorded on the last day of the month. When taking this figure into account, 79,229 foreign contributors have been recovered since the last day of March, the month in which the impact of the pandemic caused by COVID-19 began to be felt in the job market, which closed with 1,966,392 foreign contributors.

Of the total number of foreign workers contributing to the Spanish social security, 1,309,743 are from non-EU countries (63.49%) while the other 753,128 are from EU countries (36.51%). Of the total figure, 1,167,437 (56.59%) were men and 895,434 were women (43.41%).

The largest groups of foreign workers come from Romania (323,520), Morocco (248,703), Italy (127,524) and China (98,657). These countries are followed by Colombia (82,484), Venezuela (75,839), Ecuador (70,683), the United Kingdom (61,349), and Bulgaria (56,981). There were also more than 50,000 workers from Portugal (54,867 in total).

Average monthly foreign contributors

The average number of foreign workers registered with the Spanish Social Security system stood at 2,062,871 in August, 13,611 more than in July (up 0.76%).

Average contributor numbers rose in most autonomous regions, headed up by Cantabria (up 4.36%), Extremadura (up 3.75%), Asturias (up 3.42%), Navarre (up 3.41%), La Rioja (up 2.88%) and Galicia (2.47%). The number of foreign contributors fell in Castile-La Mancha (down 4.35%), Aragon (down 1.55%) and the Region of Murcia (down 1.4%). Melilla, for its part, saw numbers of foreign contributors rise by 0.49%, while they dropped in Ceuta by 2.46%.

By regime, as is usual, the majority of the foreign workers contributing to the Spanish social security system fall under the General Regime (1,699,160), a figure that includes the Special System for Agricultural Workers (191,529) and the Special System for Domestic Workers (159,061). This is followed by the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers (358,792), the Special Regime for Seamen (4,885) and the Special Regime for Coal Workers (35).

On average, the General Regime gained 0.65% of foreign contributors over the month, particularly thanks to rises in Household Activities such as Employers of Domestic Workers (up 7.75%), Administrative Activities (up 3.41%) and Hotel and Catering (up 2.29%).

The sectors that posted the largest losses were Education (down 8.75%) and Crop and Livestock Farming, Forestry and Fisheries (down 3.04%).

For its part, the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers grew by 0.75% in foreign contributors in August.

Figures at end of August

The social security system posted 2,045,621 foreign contributors on the last day of August, 15,415 more workers than on the last working day of the previous month, in other words a rise of 0.76% over the course of the month.

The autonomous regions to see the largest increases in foreign workers were Extremadura (up 8.52%), Andalusia (up 5.19%), Navarre (up 4.73%) and La Rioja (up 4.65%).

For their part the following regions saw a decline in foreign contributors: Aragon (down 2.36%), the Balearic Islands (down 1.7%), Cantabria (down 1.14%), Catalonia (down 0.21%) and Ceuta (down 3.2%).

Year-on-year change

The average number of foreign contributors fell by 70,035 on August last year (down 3.28%), a figure that has been consistently negative since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, although seven regions posted a positive year-on-year figure in August: the Region of Murcia (up 2.91%), Galicia (up 2.49%), La Rioja (up 1.99%), the Basque Country (up 1.44%), Navarre (up 1.16%), Asturias (up 1.16%) and Castile-La Mancha (up 0.59%).

The number of foreign workers particularly fell over the last year in the Balearic Islands (down 20.45%), followed by the Canary Islands (down 9.59%), Catalonia (down 4.52%), Extremadura (down 2.56%), Andalusia (down 1.82%), the Region of Valencia (down 1.81%), Aragon (down 1.65%), Cantabria (down 1.22%), Madrid (down 0.92%) and Castile and Leon (down 0.16%). Ceuta (down 31.33%) and Melilla (down 19.17%) are among the territories that lost the most foreign workers.

The number of foreign workers registered under the General Regime of the social security system has fallen by 4.87% over the last year, with particularly high losses in Artistic, Recreational and Entertainment Activities (down 21%) and Hotel and Catering (down 19.19%)

However, the number of self-employed foreign workers has risen by 5.05% year-on-year.

Non official translation