MADRID, 15 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Social Security gained an average of 39,953 foreign affiliates in February, 1.5% more than the previous month, so the second month of the year closed with 2,671,546 immigrant workers registered in the system, which represents a new historical maximum.

With the advance of February, the average affiliation of foreigners returns to positive rates after the drop in January (-37,183 foreign contributors), a month in which employment historically drops due to the end of the Christmas campaign.

Of the total number of contributing foreigners at the end of February, 56.1% were men (1,498,186) and 43.9% were women (1,173,360), as reported this Friday by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration.

In the last year, the average affiliation of foreign workers has increased by 205,303 employees, which in relative terms implies an increase of 8.3%.

In seasonally adjusted terms, the affiliation of foreigners to Social Security increased in February by 25,916 contributors, to a total of 2,762,085 employed people, almost 600,000 more than before the arrival of the pandemic.

The department headed by Elma Saiz has detailed that Social Security has registered the highest number of foreign workers in the seasonally adjusted affiliation series and the average affiliation.

As a whole, foreign workers represented 13.2% of the total number of people who were affiliated with Social Security at the end of February.

According to Social Security statistics, of the total number of foreign affiliates, 866,547 are workers from European Union countries, 32.4%, while 1,804,999, from third countries (67.6%).

The largest groups of foreign workers are workers from Romania (334,395), Morocco (328,118), Colombia (180,737), Italy (176,089) and Venezuela (147,897).

Among other nationalities, there are 66,510 members from Ukraine. This is 19,251 more than in January 2022, when the war had not yet started, which represents a 40.7% growth.

The majority of workers from Ukraine, around 85.3%, are in the General Regime (they are salaried) and 14.7% are self-employed.

AGRICULTURE AND CONSTRUCTION, THE SECTORS THAT EARN THE MOST CONTRIBUTORS

By regime, the majority of foreigners fall under the General Regime, which closed February with 2,231,303 foreign affiliates, 83.5% of the total and 1.6% more than in January.

For its part, the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers (RETA) ended February with 435,797 foreign contributors, 1.03% more than the previous month. Of them, 14.6% are of Chinese nationality, followed by Romanians (10.9%) and Italians (8.8%).

Within the General Regime, the sectors that gained the most foreign contributors in February, in relative values, were agriculture (4.91%) and construction (3.83%), while only the activities of households as employers lost affiliates. of domestic staff and producers of goods and services for own use (-0.43%).

The Special Agrarian System (which is part of the General Regime) registered a monthly increase in foreign affiliates of 3.56% and that of the Household, 0.44%.

CASTILLA LA MANCHA, THE ONLY CCAA THAT LOSES FOREIGN CONTRIBUTORS

By autonomous community, the average affiliation of foreigners increased in February in all of them, except in Castilla-La Mancha (-840).

The largest monthly increase, in absolute values, was recorded by Andalusia, which gained 13,008 foreign affiliates (4.05%), followed by Catalonia, with 6,893 more workers (1.1%), the Balearic Islands, with 4,220 more (4.64 %) and the Community of Madrid, with 3,871 more contributors (0.69%).