Immigration may be considered the primary reason why Spain’s economy is booming, but the macroeconomic data hides the struggles foreigners face when it comes to working here.
Ask a foreigner of a working age what the main drawback to life in Spain is and there’s a very reasonable chance they’ll name the job market.
It’s a well-known fact for many before they move here: low wages, job insecurity and bad working conditions are chronic problems.
And yet Spain ended 2025 with twice as many foreigners employed as it had a decade ago, roughly three million according to the latest data.
That’s no surprise given that Spain has gained 2.1 million immigrants since 2021.
The Economist, The Financial Times and other leading publications have pinpointed immigration, in particular from Latin America, as the reason why Spain’s economy is the EU’s fastest growing.
Migration accounts for 80 percent of Spain’s economic growth over the past six years, and 10 percent of the country’s social security revenues, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said this week.
READ MORE: PM hails Spain’s immigration approach as model for Europe to follow
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So the benefits immigrants bring to Spain’s economy are clear, but how do foreigners find Spanish work conditions to be currently?
Spanish employment think tank Foro de Regulización Inteligente recently conducted a survey on immigration and labour market inclusion which offers plenty of insight into main economic challenges linked to immigration in Spain.
A total of 57.2 percent of foreigners said they find it “difficult” or “very difficult” to find a job in Spain.
The reasons given, in approximately equal measure, were lacking the right papers to work, distrust on the part of employers, not having a work network or connections, the Spanish language and, lastly, bureaucracy.
Regarding Spain’s dreaded burocracia, 66.8 percent of those surveyed said they have dealt with bureaucratic problems even though 60 percent consider that companies are “very” or “quite” open to hiring foreign workers.
READ ALSO: How Spain is ruining the careers of thousands of qualified foreigners
Regarding the treatment foreign workers received in companies, 83.8 percent believe they have “always” or “almost always” been treated fairly, while 57.4 percent responded that they have not experienced any discrimination at work.
It’s worth pointing out though that 33.6 percent did say they have “sometimes” experienced discrimination due to being foreign, and 9 percent stated that they deal with it “frequently”.
Nevertheless, the overall assessment of foreign respondents’ experience in Spanish workplaces is “very positive” or “positive” in 45.4 percent of cases, but “very negative” or “negative” for 25 percent.
When the tables were turned and Spanish bosses were asked what their experiences of working with foreign employees has been like, 87 percent gave a “positive” or “very positive” assessment of them.
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But it isn’t all good. Thirty-three percent of employers consider hiring foreign-born workers to be “very difficult” or “difficult” due to them not having the right work profile, not speaking good enough Spanish, difficulties in having foreigners’ qualifications officially recognised (the homologación), and fear of being fined by authorities for hiring foreigners without the right work papers.
In fact, three quarters of Spanish business owners and self-employed workers surveyed expressed disappointment about the excessive employment obstacles foreigners in Spain face, believing that authorities make hiring immigrants “somewhat” or “very” difficult.
As many as 63 percent admitted that they have given up on hiring foreign workers for these bureaucratic reasons.
It’s therefore no surprise that six in 10 migrant workers in Spain are overqualified, Eurostat reports, whereas the rate for Spanish nationals is 35 percent.
As a result, many foreigners end up doing the lower-paying jobs that Spaniards don’t want to do (as happens in most developed countries), largely in the services sector, which is precisely what is spearheading Spanish economic growth and lowering the unemployment rate.
Although the minimum wage has increased by €448 over the past seven years up to the current €1,184 gross per month in 14 instalments, and there have been improvements to work conditions driven by hard-left Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz, the Spanish job market – for both Spaniards and foreigners – is still arguably among the least attractive in Western Europe.
For some foreigners this is a dealbreaker, for others the many positives of living in Spain outweigh the difficulties in forging a career in the country.
