Social Security surpasses three million foreign affiliates, now representing 14.2% of the national total

The Diplomat Social Security registered 3,076,841 foreign affiliates in February, after adding 202,443 affiliates in the last twelve months, representing a year-on-year change of over seven percent, as reported this Friday by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration. Overall, the number of foreign affiliates has increased by more than 800,000 since February 2022. In fact, 43.7 percent of the jobs created since the implementation of the labor reform correspond to foreign workers. Across the entire system, foreign workers now represent 14.2 percent of all Social Security contributors, six-tenths of a percentage point higher than a year ago. Adjusted for seasonality and calendar effects, the number of employed individuals from other countries increased by 22,221 in the last month, reaching 3,181,111. “Our country is experiencing one of the most dynamic periods in its labor market in recent history, and the role of foreign workers in this is undeniable,” stated the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration, Elma Saiz. “Their significant share of total contributors reflects the dynamism of our economy and the integration capacity of the Spanish labor market,” she added. Venezuelan workers are the fastest-growing group Of the total number of foreign contributors, almost 1.8 million are men, while the number of women exceeds 1.3 million. The presence of female workers from other countries represents 42.6 percent of the total foreign workforce. Around 30 percent of foreign workers registered with Social Security come from European Union countries. Among the different nationalities, workers from Venezuela are the group that has grown the most in the last year, with 35,289 more registered workers than in February 2015. The number of Venezuelan nationals registered with Social Security has increased ninefold in the last decade. The increase has also been particularly significant among workers from Colombia, whose numbers have quadrupled, and from Peru, whose numbers have increased 2.5 times. On the other hand, Morocco remains the country with the most Social Security affiliates, with 375,845 contributors, followed by Romania (336,214), Colombia (252,869), Venezuela (213,476), Italy (203,562), China (125,764), Peru (101,559), and Ukraine (78,824). General Social Security Scheme The contributions of foreign workers are particularly significant in some sectors of the General Social Security Scheme. In the Hospitality sector, they represent 28.9 percent of affiliates; in Agriculture, 26.8 percent; in Construction, 24 percent; in Transportation, 17.7 percent; and in Administrative Activities, 17.4 percent. In the Special System for Domestic Workers, they represent 42.4 percent, and in the Agricultural System, 37.9 percent. Furthermore, 88.7 percent of foreign workers have permanent contracts, which puts them above national workers (88.4 percent). In the period 2017-2021, prior to the labor reform, the percentage was 58.9 percent. At the same time, the temporary employment rate for this group of workers has fallen to historic lows, with the percentage of foreign workers with temporary contracts dropping to 11.3 percent, also below that of Spanish nationals (11.6 percent). This percentage contrasts with the average for the period 2017-2021, which reached 41.1 percent of the total. Entrepreneurship in highly skilled sectors The growth in foreign employment is especially significant in self-employment, which in February exceeded 500,000 workers (500,037). This growth represents a six percent increase compared to the same month in 2015, well above the overall growth of the self-employed sector (+1.1 percent). The report also highlights the growing presence of foreign workers who are starting businesses in highly skilled sectors, such as Telecommunications and Computer Programming and Activities in Publishing, Broadcasting, and Content Production and Distribution. The number of foreign self-employed workers in Telecommunications has grown by 10.7 percent in the last year, and in Publishing Activities, by 9.22 percent.

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