60% of unaccompanied minors are among the three million foreign national insurance contributors

Social Security registered 2,983,461 foreign national contributors in April, after discounting seasonality and the calendar effect, having added 7,387 employed people. According to the original series, foreign workers' enrolment has increased by 76,102, bringing the total to 2,997,307. It can be seen, therefore, that foreign workers account for almost 14% of the total number of contributors to the system, in both series. If the period is extended to the last year, the figure for foreign contributors has increased by nearly 200,000 people.

Since the 2022 labour reform, the weight of the foreign population in our labour market has grown notably: 41% of the employment created in the last three years corresponds to workers of foreign origin.

The Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, valued this development, stressing that "foreign workers not only contribute to the system with their contributions, but also with their entrepreneurial drive, which is reflected in the record growth of foreign self-employment". This trend highlights the growing role of the foreign population in the Spanish labour market.

Labour integration of unaccompanied minors

The number of unaccompanied minors or young people aged between 16 and 23 years of age with a valid residence permit and under the Social Security system, increased from 27% (2,110 people) to 60% (10,348) of contributors in the period from June 2021 to December 2024. This represents a 32% increase in the number of contributors in the last three years, coinciding with the reform of the Aliens Regulation.

The reform approved by Royal Decree 903/2021 automatically recognised the right to work for unaccompanied minors from the age of 16, and for young women between the ages of 18 and 23. In this context, the data show a significant increase in the contributor figures for this group, with an even higher percentage (68%) among young people aged 18 to 23 years old, who will be in the labour market by the end of the year 2024.

This is a regulatory change that has allowed thousands of young foreigners to find work opportunities in various sectors of activity in our country. The hotel and catering industry accounts for 27% of total registrations, followed by administrative and support services (16%), and agriculture and fishing (13%).

"These data express what is already a reality: the labour integration of unaccompanied minors and young people formerly under state guardianship. Thanks to the reform of the Aliens Regulation, Social Security contributor figures have doubled in three years. These figures discredit certain claims about this group, certifying that these young people come to Spain looking for a chance in life and they find it", said the minister.

Record number of self-employed foreign workers

The number of foreign self-employed workers reached an all-time high in April: 480,062 people, 7.5% more than a year ago. There has been a 91.8% increase since 2015, and a 124.4% increase for non-EU nationals. Growth among EU citizens was also significant, at 56.5%.

The momentum is particularly visible in high-skilled sectors. In the last year, the number of foreign self-employed has increased by 33.3% in Information and Communications, and by 17.6% in Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities.

"More and more foreign workers are deciding to become entrepreneurs in our country and create wealth with their own projects. This phenomenon not only reflects economic dynamism, but also an active and positive integration into the Spanish productive fabric", the minister pointed out.

General regime

In line with the situation of native workers, 83.8% of foreign contributors were included in the General Social Security Scheme, reaching 2,511,760 workers.

Over the last 12 months, the number of foreign contributors in this scheme has grown by around 6.8%, and in seven sectors in particular: Transport and Storage (25.5%), Water Supply (10%), Administrative Activities (9.4%), Financial Activities (9.3%) and Industrial Manufacturing (9%).

The year-on-year growth of foreign contributors is also remarkable in high value-added activities where a notable growth is observed, as already mentioned, in Financial Activities, which exceeds 9%, and Scientific and Technical Professional Activities (7.5%) and Information and Communications (6%).

The distribution by sector in both the General Regime and the Self-Employed Workers' Regime shows an increasing diversification. A total of 31.2% are workers from EU countries. Of all the nationalities, Morocco heads the list of countries with the highest number of contributors, followed by Romania, Colombia, Italy, Venezuela and China.

Of the total number of contributors from other countries, 1.7 million are men and 1.3 million are women, which means that the number of female contributors exceeds 43.4% of the total number of foreign workers.

Non official translation