Education pushes foreign employment upwards in September: Social Security gains 10,462 foreign workers

The hiring of teachers for the return to school in September meant a boost for employment not only among the national population, but also among the foreign population.. According to data released this Tuesday by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security gained 10,462 foreign workers in September compared to August, coinciding with the start of the school year, an increase that reversed the falls in the affiliation of foreigners registered during the previous two months. .

The number of employed foreigners grew in September to a total of 2,686,990 workers, 10,462 more than in August. The monthly increase has been more modest than that registered last year on the same dates, when Social Security gained 18,528 foreign affiliates. However, as is usual in September, it has been enough to break the downward trend of the summer months, in which 3,365 and 18,712 jobs of workers from outside Spain were destroyed respectively in July and August. In the last year, compared to September 2022, the number of foreign workers has increased by 230,971 people, which represents an increase of 9.4%.

Much of the increase has been concentrated in the education sector, due to the boost in hiring teachers to prepare for the return to the classrooms.. Specifically, the affiliation of foreigners in the educational sector increased in September by 21.69% compared to the previous month until there were a total of 48,372 workers, 8.46% more than a year ago.. Social Security has gained an average of 8,622 foreign teachers in the last month alone.

According to the membership data published at the beginning of the month, as usual, the return to school also cushioned among the national population the destruction of employment in September in the hospitality and commerce sector due to the end of the summer season.. Education gained 85,817 national workers in the ninth month of 2023, compared to decreases in employment of 40,024 and 32,223 people in hospitality and commerce respectively. The Public Administration also lost 39,503 workers.

After education, the second 'driver' of foreign employment in September was agriculture and livestock, a sector in which the employment of foreigners grew by 6.8% compared to the August level.. The number of foreign self-employed workers also increased by 2,649 people, bringing the total volume above 427,000.. These increases in membership compensated for the destruction of employment in other sectors such as hospitality, Public Administration and domestic activities.

From outside the EU

Of the total number of foreigners affiliated with Social Security at the end of September, one in three came from European Union countries: almost 882,000 workers, compared to 1.8 million from third countries. The most numerous nationalities among foreign workers are Romanian and Moroccan, each of them contributing respectively 337,765 and 309,639. They are followed by Italians (182,757), Colombians (171,982) and Venezuelans (146,126).

Furthermore, in Spain there are 65,946 workers from Ukraine, 18,687 more than in January 2022, before Russia invaded the country and the war forced millions of people to emigrate.. Since then the volume of Ukrainian affiliates in Spain has grown by 39.5%. The majority of them are salaried, although there are 13% who are self-employed. Among the self-employed, the nationality with the most presence is Chinese. 14.9% of foreign self-employed workers come from the Asian country, followed by Romania (10.9%) and Italy (9%).

At the end of September, foreign workers represented 12.9% of the total number of employees in Spain, the highest proportion for the ninth month of the year in more than a decade. According to Inclusion data, an average of 20.72 million affiliates were added to the nearly 2.7 million foreign employed people at the end of the month, after 18,295 contributors gained Social Security compared to August and 544,508 in the last year. .