The social, economic and regional characteristics of immigration in Spain

Abstract

The examination of immigration is very important because it has an impact on the economic and social state of the sending and receiving countries. In addition, it has security risks as well. In the sending countries migration could lead to the decline of the population while in the receiving ones it could support the population growth and labour supply.

In many countries of the European Union immigration is considered to be one of the possible solutions to the demographic problems arising from the ageing and decrease of the population.

The purpose of this article is to examine the main characteristics of immigration in Spain by analyzing its positive and negative effects. We present the economic and legal motivations of the immigration. We point out that Spain was characterized for a long period by emigration. In the 17th and 18th centuries Latin-America, but between 1960 and 1975 Western Europe (France and West-Germany) were the destinations of emigration. After 1975 the rate of the immigration and emigration has turned and gradually the settlement of foreigners has become characteristic.

The immigration was heavily influenced by the “immigrant-friendly” nature of the Spanish migration policy, the favourable income prospects, the cultural and historical (religious, linguistic) tradition rooted in psychological and emotional factors, and the tolerance of the Spanish people towards immigrants.

We have examined separately the specific causes of the dynamism of immigration, its structure according to the sending countries, and the decline that occured after 2007 underlining the correlations among the different factors. We deal with the territorial distribution, age composition, qualifications and remuneration situation of the immigrants.

We analyze the pay gap between the autochtonous employees and the immigrants in different economic sectors, as well as the importance and amounts of the remittances sent home by the immigrants.

We examine in detail the economic impact of immigration, particularly with regard to GDP growth, employment, unemployment. We present the consequences of the economic crisis; the setback of the economy, unemployment growth, the decrease of the population, the xenophobia and the growth of regional disparities.

The economic and financial crisis caused a change in the migration trends as well. The earlier growth of immigration has been replaced by a decline of immigration and growth of emigration. We analyze the measures taken by the government to attenuate the negative trends. Due to the crisis, the Spanish government has tightened the control of the immigration, subjected the illegal immigration to rigorous control and encouraged the return of the immigrants. The Spanish government tries to solve the immigration problems by means of regional development, economic crisis management and by promoting the integration of immigrants.

Also in Spain – like in other countries of the EU – managing migration means new challenges and tasks, all the more so because the problem must be solved, or at least attenuated, amidst economic crisis, high level of indebtedness, severe budget cuts and unemployment surpassing all previous levels.

The results of our analysis show that the management of the problems arising from immigration can not be solved, or only with difficulty, at national level. It requires an international, or at least EU-wide, collaboration and coordinated actions.