The integration of immigrants into employment

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Foreign nationals make up an increasing proportion of the Spanish population. According to the information available in early 2003 on the key issue of the integration of immigrants into employment, their employment rate is higher than that of Spanish nationals. However, immigrants tend to be concentrated in particular sectors and jobs, generally marked by low pay and conditions, and are sometimes employed illegally. This may have a number of unforeseen consequences.

The number of foreign nationals with a residence permit in Spain rose from 539,000 in 1996 to over 1,400,000 in 2002 - ie over 4% of the Spanish population - which represents a 160% growth in six years, without counting the illegal immigrants who may come to another 300,000 according to several estimates. The greatest concentrations are found in the metropolitan regions of Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, where foreign nationals sometimes represent over 10% of the population. These large groups play an important role in the configuration of the labour market and are a major factor in the organisation of local social policies (ES9904214F).

Immigrants in the labour market

A recent study (La inserción laboral de las personas inmigradas, M Pajares, CERES, Barcelona, 2002) analyses the characteristics of immigrants in the Spanish labour market. The first notable point is that their employment rate (70.2%) is far higher than that of Spanish nationals (55.0%), which is still by far the lowest in the European Union. The employment rate of female immigrants (43.3%) is also higher than that of women with Spanish nationality (38.5%), though in this case certain groups such as Moroccans have far lower rates. The majority of employed immigrants are in the younger age brackets, far from retirement age, and they tend to be employed in small companies.

An important fact that has been confirmed by this study is that immigrant workers tend to be employed in construction, agriculture and certain services, in particular hotels and catering, domestic service and personal services. However, in the more industrialised zones, such as the counties of Baix Llobregat and Vallès in Catalonia, immigrants are beginning to be integrated in sectors which did not use to employ them, such as chemicals and metalworking, in particular on night shifts. In access to employment, the informal channels predominate, particularly social networks of people of the same national origin. This explains not only the concentration in the three large metropolitan regions mentioned above, but also the residential concentration of immigrants. There are cities in which Moroccans are predominant, whereas in others the predominant groups are Ecuadorians, Peruvians or Argentines. In agriculture, recruitment on the streets of the farming towns is still common. Those who work in industry tend to enter employment through temporary work agencies, as do Spanish workers.

The individual position of immigrants in the labour market is characterised by the fact that they generally occupy jobs requiring relatively low qualifications, on temporary contracts or simply without contracts, ie in illicit 'underground employment' (the study calculates that in certain branches this may be as high as 40%). All of this affects working conditions and pay. The pay of immigrant workers tends to be below the pay laid down in collective agreements, as is overtime pay, and many immigrants work without a defined timetable and with only one day off per week and no holidays (or they are dismissed before the holidays). These conditions often arise because in small companies without trade union representation workers are unaware of the conditions that they can demand. Some cases of deceit have been detected in which workers have been made to sign discharge documents stating amounts that they have not received.

Employment and unemployment

The question arises of why there is a high employment rate among immigrants and a high unemployment rate among Spanish nationals. This is a complex question because it could be interpreted as competition between immigrants and Spanish workers, and immigration could be seen as an element that hinders the improvement of working conditions. The figures allow us to assess these two hypotheses. First, immigrants enter a segment of the labour market that Spanish workers tend to abandon if they can - ie jobs with low pay, problematic working hours (nights and weekends) and arduous working conditions. There is therefore hardly any competition with Spanish nationals. Because they tend to have the support of a family and certain expenses are covered, Spanish nationals can accept periods of inactivity or unemployment whilst waiting for better opportunities in the future. Furthermore, the sectors in which most immigrants are employed have traditionally been the worst paid, which does not rule out the possibility that the presence of these often more 'submissive' and less demanding workers has helped to keep pay and conditions very low. There are in fact many indications that the strategy of some businesses of recruiting immigrants in these sectors pursues this very aim. It should not be forgotten that in these sectors labour is an essential factor in final costs.

Another aspect that has little relevance today in the position of immigrants in the labour market, but that could be important in the future, is their level of education. On average, for persons over the age of 16, the immigrant population has a higher level of education than the Spanish national population. This is even true of immigrants from outside the EU, though the difference is even greater for immigrants from EU countries. Because many immigrants work in jobs below their level of qualification, and there is an obvious tendency for them to seek jobs more in accordance with their skills, it cannot be ruled out that in the future there will be competition between immigrants and Spanish nationals for the same jobs. Whether this will lead to xenophobia or be accepted as a normal phenomenon will depend largely on the integration policies that are implemented in the future. This is a question of great importance and must be taken into account as of now.

Social partners' positions

Since the most recent change in the Law on Foreign Persons (Ley de extranjería) (ES0012224N), the government has attempted to regulate the entry of non-EU immigrant workers through a quota - which in both 2002 and 2003 provides for just over 10,000 stable jobs for non-resident workers, though temporary workers must be added to this figure (ES0112244F). Like the governments 'extraordinary' regulation exercise of 2001 and 2002, this is a way of making immigration and integration in employment coincide. When establishing the amount and structure of this quota, the government did not consult the trade unions at all in respect of 2002, and only slightly in respect 2003. Employers were asked to place their requests for immigrant labour at the provincial offices of the National Institute of Employment (Instituto Nacional de Empleo, INEM). The result was an excessive demand that INEM reduced because it was not regarded as justified. It is notable that companies tend to ask for a high number of workers on temporary contracts.

The trade unions have asked to be more involved in establishing the quota, with the aim of ensuring that the jobs cannot be covered by Spanish national workers and that the working conditions are not below those laid down by law or by collective agreement. However, it must not be forgotten that the quota is largely irrelevant in the face of the massive numbers of immigrants who are employed illegally (ES0209204F).

Commentary

The author believes that two conditions must be met in order to achieve the integration of immigrants in employment without social conflict, now and in the future. First, the recruitment of immigrants must respect the legal conditions in terms of legal contracts and pay and conditions in accordance with the provisions of the collective agreements. Second, there must be a considerable improvement in the pay and working conditions of sectors that tend to employ immigrants, because the absence of Spanish national workers in these sectors facilitates an increasing deterioration.

However, this is not easy to achieve without social control. An initial form of control, which currently does not operate as it should, would be a labour inspectorate with more resources and competences that would dissuade companies from infringing the law and the collective agreements when recruiting workers. Still more important is the trade union organisation of workers in these sectors, and in general in small companies. This would be an essential instrument for integrating immigrants in employment and society, and for avoiding more serious social disputes in the future. (Fausto Miguélez, QUIT-UAB)