Romanians rank second among foreign contributors to Spain’s social security system

The Spanish social security system registered a record number of 3.45 million foreign contributors in June of this year, and Romanians represented the second-largest group of foreign contributors, after Moroccans, according to the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, cited by infobae.com.

The number of foreign workers registered with the Spanish social security system increased by 350,163 compared with June of last year, representing a growth rate of 11.31%, compared with the overall average growth rate of 2.8%. Overall, 28.5% of foreign contributors to Spain’s social security system come from the European Union.

Roughly 422,000 Moroccans contributed to the Spanish social security system, followed by workers from Romania (353,974), Venezuela (239,892), Italy (223,500), China (133,098), Peru (122,633), and Ukraine (84,020). Among these nationalities, the increase in the number of Venezuelan contributors has been particularly notable, having grown tenfold over the past decade.

“The foreign workforce supports strategic sectors such as care services, agriculture, construction, hospitality, transport, and healthcare, and this is reflected in the sector-specific employment data,” Spanish minister of inclusion Elma Saiz explained in a statement.

This increase of foreign contributors comes amid the extraordinary immigrant regularization process, resulting in an additional 159,097 people being registered in the Social Security system as of June 30. The majority, 83.4%, of foreign contributors were registered under the general scheme, and permanent contracts were the most common form of employment (77.3%).

By sector, the new registrations were concentrated in hospitality (38,776), retail trade (20,195), administrative activities (19,327), and construction (18,310). Immigrants account for 15.4% of all registered workers in Spain, but they are particularly important in sectors such as hospitality (31.5%), agriculture (28.9%), and construction (25.9%).

(Photo source: Radub85|Dreamstime.com)