Surging to New Heights: 2.7 Million Foreign National Insurance Contributors in August

The latest data from Spain’s Social Security indicates a steady increase in the number of foreign workers contributing to the country’s workforce.

In August, there were 2,657,187 foreign affiliates, a figure that excludes seasonal and calendar effects.

This represents a growth of 42,266 contributors compared to July.

Since February 2020, before the onset of the pandemic, Spain’s workforce has seen an increase of 467,766 foreign workers.

In August, foreign contributors made up 12.8 per cent of the total number of contributors, when adjusted for seasonality.

In unadjusted terms, there were 2,676,528 foreign contributors in August, an increase of 18,712 compared to July.

Among these contributors, 32.8 per cent came from EU countries, while 67.2 per cent came from third countries.

The largest groups of foreign contributors originated from Romania (335,291), Morocco (302,934), Italy (182,700), Colombia (170,804), and Venezuela (145,461).

Of the total, 55.5 per cent were men, and 44.5 per cent were women.

Over the past twelve months, the average number of foreign contributors has grown by 9.8 per cent, which corresponds to an addition of 239,037 employed individuals.

Notably, there were 66,117 national insurance contributors from Ukraine, an increase of 18,858 since January 2022, before the outbreak of the war, which is a growth of 40 per cent.

The majority of foreign workers (87.4 per cent) from Ukraine were in the General System, indicating salaried employment, while 12.5 per cent were self-employed.

In terms of sectors, 83.9 per cent of foreign contributors were part of the General System, with the highest employment gains seen in Household activities (5.9 per cent), Water supply (1.6 per cent), and Healthcare activities (1.6 per cent).

However, the number of foreign workers decreased in sectors such as Agriculture (3.2 per cent), Public Administration (2.4 per cent), and Construction (2 per cent).

Similar declines were seen in the Special Agrarian System (3.9 per cent) and Household (1.1 per cent).

Spain continues to attract a diverse range of foreign workers, contributing to the country’s labour market and economic growth.