Foreign workers in eleven sectors of the General Regime grew by more than 9%, led by Transport and Storage, which increased by 16%, and together they represent 13.7% of the total number of contributors.
The Social Security registered 2,927,598 foreign affiliates in December, after discounting seasonality and the calendar effect, after adding 16,536 employed persons. Foreign employment closed 2024 at an all-time high, a trend that has continued throughout practically the entire year.
Since December 2019, before the impact of the pandemic, the system has recorded an increase of 765,199 workers from other countries, i.e. 35.6% more. In the context of overall enrolment, foreign workers account for 13.7% of the total number of employed persons, six-tenths of a percentage point more than a year ago.
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Social Security closes the year with 212,000 more foreign affiliates and exceeds 2.9 million employed persons
Average enrolment
In average terms and without seasonal adjustment, i.e. in the original series, Social Security recorded 2,280,818 affiliates from other countries, an increase of 212,042 in 2024. This is the highest number of total foreign contributors to Social Security in both the original series and seasonally adjusted for November.
31.1% are workers from European Union countries. Of all the nationalities, Morocco heads the list of countries with the highest number of contributors, followed by Romania, Colombia, Italy, Venezuela and China.
Of the total number of people affiliated from other countries, 1.6 million are men and the number of foreign women is close to 1.3 million, having grown by 35.2% since before the pandemic. The number of female members exceeds 43% of the total number of foreign workers.
More than 70,000 Ukrainian members
Among other nationalities, there are 72,376 members from Ukraine, 25,117 more than in January 2022, when the war had not yet started, an increase of 53.1%.
Most of the workers from Ukraine, about 83.2%, are in the General Regime (salaried workers) and 16.8% are self-employed workers.
Regimes and sectors
Overall, 83.6% of foreign affiliates were in the General Social Security Scheme, with 2,408,646 workers. The proportion is similar to the total number of affiliates, around 84% are also included in this scheme.
In the last 12 months, five sectors of activity have grown by more than 10%: Transport and Storage (16%), Administrative Activities and Auxiliary Services (11%), Water Supply (10.8%), Health Activities (10.3%), Agriculture, Livestock, Hunting, Forestry and Fishing (10.1%).
The distribution by sector shows a diversification in the areas of employment with the highest employment of workers of foreign origin.
High value-added activities
On the other hand, this year-on-year increase is also very notable in high value-added activities, where there is notable growth within this General System in sectors such as Financial Activities (9.5%), Information and Communications, which increased by more than 7.1%, and Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities, with an increase of 6.6% in 2024.
By activities, foreign workers account for more than 20% of the total number of affiliates in: Activities of Extra-territorial Organisations and Bodies (28%), Hotels and Catering (27.8%), Agriculture, Livestock, Hunting, Forestry and Fishing (24.6%) and Construction (21.5%). In the Special System for Household Employees, almost 44% are foreign workers, and in the Special Agricultural System, almost 35%.
The Special Scheme for Self-Employed Workers accounted for 467,616 contributors of other nationalities, i.e. 13.8% of the total number of self-employed workers. In the last year, foreign affiliates in this scheme have increased by 8.3%.