A migrant worker earns an average of 7,000 euros a year less than a Spaniard

Active Population Survey (EPA), activity rate of the migrant population -that is, the sum of employed plus active job seekers- is 69.7%, while the national rate is 56.3%. exists in Spain 5.4 million foreign-born residents11.4% of the population, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

“Migrant population is preferred in times of increased employment and in times of crisis, it is very negatively affected because jobs decline and the logic of the economic migrant loses its meaning”, explains Rafael Grande, professor of sociology at the University of Malaga.

They recall from ACCEM, an NGO specializing in the integration of vulnerable groups, that their high employability is because they are a young population, have a large working capacity and tend to be recycled. Germán Hurtado, coordinator of the Center for Employment in the Field of NGO Programs, emphasizes: labor market is heavily dependent on foreign labor With the increasing aging of the population and the refusal of Spanish workers to perform certain tasks.

“The high assertiveness and qualification of the Indigenous population means that they are not employed in the lower sectors of the occupational scale,” says the expert. “The migrant population is forced to do the least qualified, most precarious and worst working conditions”, it adds. Agriculture, animal husbandry, care, logistics or restoration are the sectors specified in the NGO. The INE’s Annual Salary Structure Survey shows that the average annual salary for a Spanish worker is €25,690, compared to just €17,922 for a foreigner.

Barriers to market access

Migration is a complex process that means moving from one country to another in a lifetime. Culture, language, laws or social rejection make it difficult for foreigners to integrate themselves into a new community. “The cultural diversity of immigration in Spain is very high. It comes from many places,” says Hurtado. According to the EPA, the main barriers immigrants face in finding employment are: headers not validatedlack of adequate study and language.

“Another major challenge in accessing the labor market is digital space. Digital literacy is very important,” explains Hurtado. Rafael Grande believes bureaucracy and reluctance are the biggest barriers to inclusion, especially in validating qualifications. To do this, a stronger welfare state is needed to promote integration,” he says.

first and second class immigrants

According to the experts consulted, the three main poles of origin of the foreign population residing in Spain are Europe, Africa and the Americas. “It is very difficult to talk about immigration in Spain. there are groups that suffer strong discrimination and others are privileged by the Spanish market,” explains Grande, citing as an example that any immigrant from the eurozone or developed countries has a better social standing than others.

Germán Hurtado of ACCEM, ukraine crisis this difference was seen once again: “We have received thousands of requests from companies that have never contacted an NGO that offers jobs to Ukrainians who don’t even speak Spanish. Rather than hiring people who were already in a job bank, they preferred to wait for them to be trained and adapted”. Apart from origin, there is another element of discrimination: gender.

Women have a double challenge: due to all the barriers to entry and being a woman. The data are significant because the difference in activity rates for foreign men and women is almost 14 percentage points, according to the EPA. On the other hand, foreign women earn an average of 15,764 Euros compared to foreign men who earn an average of 20,079 Euros.

Hurtado thinks that the current situation will force us to change the concept of the immigrant population: “If we want to maintain the welfare state with an aging population, we will need not only the most precarious sectors, but also the immigrant population. in quality jobs with increasingly better conditions. Grandes emphasizes: greater cultural integrationFor immigrants, it is crucial to work to promote cultural diversity and foster as little spatial segregation as possible.