Out of every four people of working age in Catalonia, one was born outside our country. The foreign population has more and more weight in the Catalan labor market and today counts a million employees, although it remains exposed to lower wages, more temporary jobs and more risks in its professional activity despite the fact that she is increasingly qualified.
The in-depth study Other Catalans and Catalans of the 21st centuryprepared by CCOO and to which elDiario.es had access before publication, figures the incidence of this population group in the workplace while 25 years have passed since the first major migratory wave at the beginning of the 21st century.
One of the main conclusions is that, although the profile of migrants has changed compared to those of the 20th century – coming from the rest of Spain – the problems of this group are practically the same and their professional integration takes place in much less favorable conditions. , with the exception of a minority represented by the population born within the European Union.
“The segregation of the labor market according to origin is a tangible reality in our labor market and demonstrable through numerous data,” states the report, which specifies that the majority of the foreign population occupies the most precarious positions in the economic sectors least desired by citizens. the indigenous population.
“Migrants did not come to take jobs away from people born in Spain, but to take jobs they do not want,” underlines the study coordinated by sociologist Mariña Couceiro.
In the hotel industry, for example, 60% of workers are of foreign origin. This percentage rises to 71.3% among domestic workers. Other professions with a high number of migrants are administrative activities and auxiliary services (42.1%), construction (38.6%) and agriculture, livestock and fishing (35%).
Same training, different salary
Migrants are the majority in many unskilled jobs, even though the education level of Spaniards and foreigners is practically the same. 25% of natives over 15 have university studies, compared to 24% of migrants. A similar difference can be seen among those who have completed secondary education, vocational training or similar: 32.6% among Spaniards and 31.7% among foreigners. The percentage of the population with only primary education is practically identical: 15.2% compared to 14.9% of migrants.
The education of Spaniards actually has more similarities with that of non-EU migrants than with that of European foreigners residing in our country, most of whom are highly qualified. More than 75% of European Union (EU) citizens in Catalonia have non-compulsory secondary and higher education, while this percentage is 57.7% for those born in Spain and 52.2% for those born in Spain outside the EU. .
However, similarities in education do not translate into salaries. The average salary of people born in Spain is just over 27,000 euros. That of the foreign population, on the other hand, amounts to just over 18,400 euros. This difference in average salary is slightly lower than that of ten years ago, when it exceeded 10,000 euros, but it remains very significant, underline the authors.
Those who come from abroad also start working much earlier than natives. The employment rate for migrants aged 16 to 24 is 45.6%, while among Spaniards in this age group it reaches 33%. After this age and up to 54, the trend reverses: 87% of natives here have a job compared to 75.5% of foreigners.
Immigrants of non-European origin enter the labor market earlier and leave it later, but their relationship to employment is generally “worse”, warns the document, which frames this population group in what the British researcher Guy Standing defines the “precariat” as: predominant in low-skilled professions, with low or very low salaries and with a career path characterized by contingency and income insecurity.
The profile of the migrant population is changing, but its problems persist. Beyond the possible prejudices of employers, why is there still this big difference between foreigners and natives in terms of salaries and type of occupation? The authors point to “a perverse legal framework” which makes it extremely difficult for migrants to escape this situation of inferiority on the labor market.
The report recalls how the legal framework on immigration establishes a differentiation between the population of Community origin and those originating from non-EU countries, which implies unequal access for non-EU employees in the exercise of their citizenship rights.
“Strict regulations for obtaining a residence and/or work permit,” states the study, “condemn many of them to a situation of irregularity which exposes them to labor exploitation in the within the underground economy, which continues to be a problem of great importance both in Catalonia and in Spain.
One of the most worrying aspects, the report concludes after analyzing the data, is that the difficulties of the non-EU population persist once they have managed to regularize their situation, even after obtaining Spanish nationality.
“The double scale applied by current immigration regulations depending on whether the person was born inside or outside the EU marks the social and professional trajectory of the person,” say the authors, who consider that this aspect determines the way in which their integration into EU society takes place. and the labor market, the effects of which last for years.
