Labour market and immigration: where are we going? ( 63,54 KB )

 

Immigration as seen by countries with longest tradition as receiving states

  In just a few years, Spain has come to be a country where immigration carries considerable weight. What in other countries on the European continent has taken decades to take shape and develop in step with the various economic cycles has happened in Spain with people hardly realizing it. Apart from the special cases of Luxembourg and Switzerland, Spain is the country in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) whose labour force includes the highest proportion of foreign workers.(1)

  The sudden appearance of the immigration phenomenon has meant a notable impact on the labour market because recent immigration has come as a result of being attracted by existing job opportunities. A good part of this immigrant flow comes from lower income countries, has entered the country by irregular means and, as pointed out by the OECD, the existence of a relatively high degree of «black labour» has facilitated its integration in the labour market. Immigration has therefore had a sharp impact on the labour market by driving up the activity rate (those in the labour market in relation to the population of working age). Nevertheless, over the medium term it is expected that the immigration phenomenon will normalize and stabilize. What will then happen to the labour market?

  One way of trying to anticipate the future situation of immigration in Spain is to observe what is happening in those countries where the immigrant or foreign population is more settled and compare this reality with the present situation in Spain. We refer to countries such as France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, United Kingdom, etc. keeping well in mind that the factors creating the national reality of each country are many and quite varied.

  One of the traditional deficiencies of the Spanish labour market has been the low activity rate. Nevertheless, in recent years this aspect has improved a lot, especially thanks to the increased number of women entering the labour market, with the progressive increase in professional qualifications as well as the higher activity rate among the foreign population. In fact, the activity rate for foreign females in Spain in 2004 was 65% as against 56% for Spanish women. Nevertheless, this is not the case in those European countries with a longer tradition of immigration, such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium and Sweden where the rate of participation in the labour market for foreign women is substantially lower than that for nationals. It is thus possible that the effect of immigration on the activity rate may disappear or even work in the opposite direction because of the effect of factors, such as, for example, reunification of families.

  Youth employment, another of the major problems in Spain’s labour market, has improved considerably in recent years, which have shown sustained economic growth, although the unemployment rate for young people remains much higher than the average. One aspect that stands out in this group is that youth unemployment is higher among nationals than among foreigners. Nevertheless, this is not the norm in those countries with a longer history of immigrant inflows. In those countries, the unemployment rate for foreign youth is substantially higher than for young nationals. In addition, in Spain, as in other countries with recent immigration, such as Italy and Greece, the unemployment rate for all immigrants is not substantially higher than that for Spaniards. Nevertheless, the difference is considerably greater in other EU countries.

  Another segment of the population with difficulties in the labour market is that made up of the elderly. In general, these workers have a substantially higher unemployment rate not only than the average but also than the youth segment. In the Spanish case, the unemployment rate for workers over 55 is a little higher than those born outside the country. In this respect, the figures coincide with the situation in other EU countries with the notable exceptions of France and Italy where unemployment among elderly foreigners is higher than that among nationals.

  With regard to those sectors where foreign worker employment is concentrated, in Spain these are construction, domestic service, retail trade, hotels, restaurants and agriculture. In the developed countries, the participation of immigrants in sectors such as construction, hotels, restaurants and health and social services in general is higher than the share of total employment in those sectors. Nevertheless, the distribution of employment among immigrants is quite different depending on the country. The trend to tertiary activity in the economy has also affected the employment of immigrants so that most jobs are now to be found in services. A notable proportion of posts occupied by immigrants are unqualified jobs especially in the area of hotels and restaurants. In many cases, these are jobs not acceptable to the national population because of working conditions and pay.

  Another trend is the growing importance of self-employment among the immigrant population. In some countries such as Belgium and United Kingdom, the proportion of immigrants working as self-employed persons is relatively higher than that for the overall population with jobs. This may reflect a greater entrepreneurial spirit but it may also be due to difficulty in finding a wage-paying job because of difficulties of language, recognition of diplomas or lack of experience in the labour market of the receiving country. In Spain, in any case, the proportion of self-employed foreigners is relatively low although the tendency is on the rise.

  One characteristic of Spain’s labour market is the high proportion of temporary work. The temporary nature of work affects immigrants to an even greater degree. Nevertheless, this is no different from the general situation in neighbouring countries. In those countries where temporary work is most common, such as Spain, there are relatively more foreigners with temporary hiring contracts. With regard to part-time work, available statistics do not show any notable imbalance with regard to nationality.

  Therefore, if we consider that the trend for immigrants in Spain’s labour market could follow the model of neighbouring developed countries, as would seem plausible, there are reasons to believe that the initial effects of the incorporation of massive immigration in the labour market may become modified over the course of time. This could be partly due to the fact that patterns of behaviour in the population change once family reunification takes place and that the immigrants also grow older.

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