Turning a Corner? How Spain Can Help Immigrants Find Middle-Skilled Work
The rapid economic boom of the 1990s and early to mid-2000s sparked a surge of immigration to Spain. Many newcomers quickly found jobs in areas like construction and domestic services, and as a result, investment in large-scale, coordinated labor market integration efforts was not a priority. When the economic crisis of 2008 hit, with a disproportionate effect on those in temporary work, it revealed the underlying gaps in the policy framework meant to support the labor market inclusion of both immigrants and other vulnerable individuals in Spain.
A new report, Turning a Corner? How Spain Can Help Immigrants Find Middle-Skilled Work, examines the effectiveness of recent policies in filling these gaps to help immigrants move into more stable work. It provides an overview of the labor market and integration policy in Spain and assesses the effectiveness of these policies, focusing on employment services, language education, and vocational training.
Researcher Raúl Ramos notes that in Spain, unlike other European countries, “the largest share of the budget [for employment services] has consistently been allocated to passive policies and to employer subsidies rather than to training or guidance,” which has been detrimental to native and immigrant job seekers alike. During the boom years, workforce development programs and integration policies were decentralized and language policy was a low priority, as the majority of immigrants already spoke Spanish well or very well. The crisis highlighted the need to invest in comprehensive mainstream and targeted policies that enable workers to enter permanent, high-quality employment.
As Spain recovers from the recession, the national government has undertaken measures to promote reintegration into the labor market for disadvantaged workers (including immigrants), primarily through training. At the regional level, there has also been movement toward developing specific initiatives for new immigrants, with a focus on language courses and orientation programs. The report concludes with recommendations for further policy refinement, including improved recognition of foreign credentials and easier access to employment services and training.
This report is part of the second phase of a Migration Policy Institute–International Labour Office research project on the integration of foreign-born workers within EU labor markets, focusing on six countries: the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. This phase focuses on the policies that have an effect on the labor market integration of new arrivals over their first decade. The first phase examined the influence of individual characteristics and broader economic conditions on the employment prospects of foreign-born workers.
This report accompanies an earlier report, which examined the labor market integration of different immigrant groups in Spain based on origin, education level, and year of arrival. The study concluded that immigrants who arrived in Spain before the 2008 recession had little trouble finding work immediately, but those who came after 2008 struggled to find work as unemployment rates skyrocketed.