MADRID, 16 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Contributors from Morocco exceed those from Romania for the first time
Social Security gained an average of 70,936 foreign affiliates in April, 2.6% more than the previous month, so the fourth month of the year closed with 2,805,055 affiliates from other countries, a new historical maximum, according to The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration reported this Thursday.
With the advance of April, the average affiliation of foreigners has chained three consecutive months of promotions after almost 40,000 and more than 62,500 employed people gained in February and March, respectively.
Discounting seasonality and the calendar effect, the affiliation of foreigners to Social Security increased by 6,623 contributors in April, to a total of 2,792,096 employed persons, a record number in the seasonally adjusted series.
Since December 2019, before the impact of the pandemic, the number of foreign contributors has increased by 629,697 employees, as highlighted by the Ministry headed by Elma Saiz.
As a whole, foreign workers represented 13.3% of the total number of people who were affiliated with Social Security at the end of April.
Of the total number of foreigners affiliated at the end of the fourth month of the year, 904,760 came from EU countries (32.2%) and 1,900,295 came from third countries (67.8%).
The largest group of employed foreigners is that of workers from Morocco (346,771), which has surpassed Romania for the first time (345,706 contributors). They are followed by affiliates from Colombia (197,071), Italy (187,539), Venezuela (154,009) and China (116,570).
In addition, the system has 69,246 members from Ukraine, 21,987 more than in January 2022 (46.5%), before the start of the war waged in the country by Russia.
The majority of workers from Ukraine who work in Spain, 85.1%, are salaried and 14.8% are self-employed.
In the last year, the average affiliation of foreign workers has increased by 198,372 employees, which in relative terms implies an increase of 7.6%.
Of the total number of foreign workers, nearly 1.6 million are men and more than 1.2 million are women. The Ministry has highlighted that the number of foreign women affiliated with Social Security has grown by 34.3% since before the pandemic, 3.1 points more than men.
THE HOSPITALITY INCREASES ITS FOREIGN WORKERS BY 8.4%
By regime, the majority of foreigners fall under the General Regime, which closed April with 2,352,902 foreign affiliates, 83.9% of the total and 2.9% more than in March.
For its part, the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers (RETA) ended April with 446,785 foreign contributors, 1.2% more than the previous month and 7.1% above the figure for April 2023.
Within the General Regime, the sector that gained the most foreign contributors in April, in relative values, was the hospitality industry, which increased its number of foreign employees by 8.4%. This was followed by artistic and entertainment activities (3.5%) and the supply of electrical energy (3.3%).
The Special Agrarian System (which is part of the General Regime) registered a monthly increase in foreign affiliates of 5%, while the Home System experienced a decrease of 0.5%.
In interannual values, nine sectors of activity show growth of more than 10%. The supply of electrical energy is the activity that has added the most foreign affiliates, with an increase of 12.1%, followed by administrative activities (11.2%), hospitality (10.7%), health activities (10 .5%), financial activities (10.3%) and commerce (10.2%).
The Ministry has highlighted that the year-on-year growth is also “very notable” in high value-added activities such as information and telecommunications (8.3%) and professional, scientific and technical activities, with an increase in foreign affiliates in the last year of 6 .7%.
National workers from other countries account for more than 20% of the total number of members in the activities of Extraterritorial organizations and organizations (28.7%), hospitality (27.2%), agriculture (24.7%) and construction (20. 7%). In the Special Home System, 45.3% are foreign workers, and in the Special Agrarian System, 36.7%.
MORE FOREIGN AFFILIATES IN ALL AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITIES
By autonomous community, the average affiliation of foreigners increased in April compared to the previous month in all autonomous communities.
The largest increases, in absolute values, were recorded in the Balearic Islands (19,783 contributors), Catalonia (14,033) and Andalusia, which added 11,146 foreign employees compared to March.
