The Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, during the presentation of the data
The Social Security recorded 2,976,074 foreign contributors in March, after discounting seasonality and the calendar effect, after adding 4,263 people in the month and 190,601 in the last year. They would therefore account for more than 41% of the employment created, as the total number of employed people in the system increased by 161,491.
A percentage that coincides with that recorded in the original series, given that of the 455,679 jobs computed in the last year, 187,086 correspond to foreigners.
The Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, valued the data as "the best reflection of the key role of foreign workers in job creation, the strength of our Social Security and in the economic growth of our country. Not only are they essential in strategic sectors, but they are also gaining weight in high value-added activities thanks to their contribution."
Minister Saiz also stressed that "more than four out of every ten new jobs created have been filled by people who have chosen Spain as their place to work and contribute to our Social Security system, a figure that underlines the importance of regular migration for the country's economic growth."
In average terms and without seasonal adjustment, i.e. in the original series, the Social Security recorded 2,921,205 contributors from other countries, after adding 46,807 foreign workers, a significant increase in a month of March without the effect of Easter and which, moreover, was characterised by very adverse weather.
In the context of overall contribution, foreign national workers account for 13.9% of the total number of employed people, seven tenths of a percentage point more than a year ago. In the original series without seasonal adjustment, they represent 13.7% of the national total.
High added value activities
In the last seven years, the presence of foreign workers has been increasing in more specialised productive sectors such as Information and Communications, which has recorded an increase of 5.7% and Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities (+3.4%).
General regime
In line with the situation of native workers, in March, 83.5% of foreign affiliates were included in the General Social Security Scheme, reaching 2,439,776 workers.
Looking at the sectors, in the last 12 months, the contributions of foreigners in the General Regime grew around 6.7% and five sectors recorded increases of around 9%. As already mentioned, the Transport and Warehousing sector leads the contributions of foreigners with 25.6% more, which is followed by Water Supply (+10.6%), Administrative Activities (+9.5%), Manufacturing (+9.2%), Health Care Activities (+9.2%) and Construction (+8.8%).
The year-on-year growth in foreign contributors is also very notable in high value-added activities, with notable growth in Financial Activities (8.8%), Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities (7.8%) and Information and Communications, which increased 6.3%.
The distribution by sector in both the General Regime and the Self-Employed Workers' Regime shows an increasing diversification.
More than 8,400 new self-employed people so far this year
In terms of the distribution by regime, it is worth noting the increase in self-employed workers from other countries. In the first quarter of the year, Social Security added 8,423 foreign workers to the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers (RETA), of which 4,480 corresponded to the last month.
The total number of self-employed workers in March was 476,039, a YoY increase of 7.8%. Self-employed workers from other countries represent 14% of the total number of self-employed people in Spain.
The increase in the number of RETA contributors in the last twelve months has been particularly noticeable in the Information and communications sector, which has grown 33.9%, as well as in Scientific and Technical Professional Activities, which has risen 17.5%.
More than 27,000 Ukrainian workers are contributing
In terms of countries of origin, 31.3% are 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.
In the March figures, of the total number of contributors from other countries, nearly 1.7 million are men and almost 1.3 million are women - a figure that has grown by 43.1% since before the pandemic (December 2019). The number of female contributors now exceeds 43.5% of the total number of foreign workers.
Among other nationalities, there are 74,665 contributors from Ukraine, 27,087 more than in February 2022, prior to the start of the war, representing a 60% growth.
The majority of workers (82%) from Ukraine are in the General Regime, i.e., they are salaried workers, and 17.9% are self-employed.
Non official translation
