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Social and Labour Market Integration of  

Ethnic Minorities in Spain 

 
 
 
 
 

By: Sara de la Rica 

Unversity of the Basque Country, FEDEA, IZA 

 

December, 2008 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The author acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science ( 
SEJ2006-10827/ECON) and from the Basque Government (IT/241-08)

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1 - Introduction 
 

Spain has been traditionally a country of emigrants.  During the 1850-1953 

period, approximately 3.5 million Spaniards left for the Americas from regions such as 

Galicia, Asturias and the Canary Islands.  Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Cuba were 

some of the most popular destinations of these emigrants.  However, from the mid 1970s 

onwards, Spain became the host country of foreign labourers from Northern Africa and 

Latin-America.  Out migration diminished during the international economic crisis of the 

early seventies, whereas immigration grew at a steady pace.  The transition from an 

immigrant-sending to an immigrant-receiving country was the by product of a larger shift 

in regional migration patterns.  By the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mediterranean 

countries, such as Spain, Portugal and Italy, became immigrant-receiving nations due to a 

variety of factors, such as: (1) their geographical proximity to immigrant-sending regions, 

e.g. Africa; (2) the barriers to immigration in traditionally immigrant-receiving nations 

during the 1950s, 1960s, and part of the 1970s, as it was the case in Germany, 

Switzerland and France; and (3) the improved economies of Mediterranean countries.  

 

The largest immigration flow has taken place from the mid nineties onwards.  

Figure 1 shows the changing composition of the immigrant stock from 1995 to 2004.

1

  

Although Europeans used to account for half of all immigrants in 1995, the stock of 

immigrants from Latin American and Africa has increased at a faster rate after the year 

2000, catching up with the stock of European immigrants by the year 2004.   

 

In addition to ethnic minorities coming from immigration, another ethnic minority 

group in Spain that deserves attention is the group of Romas. This is not an ethnic 

                                                 

1

 Figure 1 refers to the stock of immigrants with residence permits in each of the plotted years.    

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minority group coming properly from immigration, as the others mentioned before, given 

that they are present in Spain for over 600 years. Indeed, an estimated 500.000 - 800.000 

Roma/Gitanos are settled throughout the country, with the largest communities in the 

provinces of Andalucía (more than 40%).  Roma/Gitanos are not even officially 

recognized as an ethnic minority group, despite Romani requests for social and political 

recognition. Thus, there is no legal protection of their identity, culture, language and 

other minority rights.  

 

In this chapter, I will try to describe the Roma labour market situation as an 

additional ethnic minority group, although there are no reliable nation-wide statistics 

about the situation of Romas in Spain.  Most of the description of the situation of Romas 

in Spain is taken from EUMAP (2002).  

 

I will treat ethnic minorities coming from immigration and Romas as separate 

groups given their distinctive nature and situation.  

 

2. Statistical Overview 

 

2.1. Demographic Characteristics of Immigrants  

 

If we consider individuals from Europe as a non-migrant group, then it is fair to 

say that the most important ethnic minorities in Spain coming from immigration are 

Africans and Latin Americans, and to a lesser extent, immigrants from Asia.  

The most recent and extensive database that can be used  to analyze the ethnic 

minorities in Spain is the micro-data from Census 2001 (5% sample).   The 2001 

Population Census was fielded by the Spanish Institute of Statistics during the last term 

of 2001.  Around 13 million households and 40 million individuals were interviewed.

 

 

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The Census has the advantage of, in principle, interviewing all immigrants independent 

of their legal status.  Nonetheless, we are aware that an important fraction of 

unauthorized immigrants may not fill in the questionnaire and, as such, this group is 

likely to be under-represented in the Census. The Census gathers information on personal 

and demographic characteristics (such as age, education, marital status, relationship to the 

household head, or province) and job characteristics (such as work status, occupation, 

and industry).  In addition, for immigrants –defined as individuals reporting a foreign 

nationality, the Census collects information on the number of years elapsed since entry 

and on the country of origin.  An important drawback regarding the Spanish Census Data 

is that it does not provide individual information on wages. Any information on wages 

must be gathered from a complementary Database, the "Earnings Structure Survey" , 

2002.  

 

Table 1 displays some basic demographic characteristics of natives and 

immigrants in Spain. Taking into account all individuals, the first thing to note is that  by 

2001 immigrants represented 4% of the population share in Spain

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.  Immigrants are on 

average much younger than natives (the age difference varies depending on the country 

of origin of immigrants). Except for Latinos, the incidence of males is higher for 

immigrants than for natives. Likewise, the proportion of working aged individuals (16-65 

years) is much higher among immigrants than among natives. Regarding the geographical 

distribution, immigrants are mainly distributed in five Spanish regions: Madrid, 

Catalonia, Valencia, Andalusia, and The Canary and Balear Islands. These regions attract 

around 82% of immigrants, relative to 63% of natives. However, immigrants are 

                                                 

2

 Given the high pace at which immigration is taking place in Spain, by 2006 the immigrant population 

share has reached 8% of the total population. However, the latest available individual-level information is 
that from 2001 Census Data.  

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unevenly distributed in these regions. Whereas African and Asian immigrants concentrate 

primarily on Catalonia (30% of African and Asian live in Catalonia, relative to only 15% 

of natives) , Latinos are heavily concentrated in Madrid (around 47% of latinos live in 

Madrid, compared to 13% of natives). 

[Insert Table 1] 

 

2.2  Demographic Characteristics of Romas in Spain 

 

Given that Romas entered in Spain more than 600 years ago, their incidence of 

male/female population and other characteristics like age are very much like those of the 

majority group. However, regarding geographical location, the largest Roma 

communities are located in the provinces of Andalucia (more than 40 percent), Valencia 

and Murcia, followed by major cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Granada, 

Valencia and Zaragoza.  

 

 2.3. Labour Market Outcomes of Natives and Immigrants 

 

Table 2 displays educational attainment and labour market status of working aged 

individuals in the sample. Regarding education, African and Asian immigrants appear to 

have attained lower levels of education, whereas Latinos show similar educational 

attainment than natives. With respect to Labour Market Status, the labour force 

participation rate is around 10 percentage points higher for immigrants than for natives, 

although the unemployment rate is also higher for the former  (between two and 5 

percentage points, depending on the place of origin of immigrants)

3

. African immigrants 

                                                 

3

 The percentage of part-time versus full-time work has not been reported because the incidence of part-

time in Spain is  on average very low (around 5%).  

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suffer the highest unemployment rate among immigrants (14.4%), and Asian the lowest 

(11.3%).  

[Insert Table 2] 

 

Turning now to employed individuals, table 3 displays basic job characteristics of 

natives and ethnic minorities in Spain. Regarding type of employment, it can be seen that 

except for Asians, the percentage of immigrants that work as employers (with employees) 

or as self-employed is much lower than the corresponding ones to natives. On the other 

hand, the vast majority of immigrants work as salary workers. In addition, the incidence 

of permanent contracts among natives is almost 20 percentage points higher than among 

immigrants.  

 

Regarding wages, the first thing to note is that given that the Census does not 

report information on wages, this is taken from the 2002 Earnings Structure Survey

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Looking at average wages,  it can be seen that average hourly wages  for immigrants are 

about 30 % lower than that for natives. 

 

In the third place, table 3 displays basic differences on industry and occupational 

distribution of natives and immigrants in Spain, although there are also differences within 

the immigrant groups. Whereas almost half of the employed natives work in either Trade 

or Services, less than 20 % of immigrants work in these sectors. However, industry 

concentration differs very much depending on place of origin. For instance, around 25% 

of Africans work in Construction (compared to 16% of Latinos and only 11% of Asians), 

                                                 

4

 This survey contains individual information on 169,520 full-time workers (117,161 men and 52,359 

women) from 21,621 establishments (only establishments with 10 or more employees).  In addition to 
establishment level information, the survey collects individual level data on gross hourly wages for a 
random sample of workers from each establishment. Nationality of workers is reported, so hourly wages for 
our ethnic minorities (except for Asian) is reported. Nevertheless, given the sample restrictions, it is likely 
that the sample of immigrant workers contained in this survey is not fully representative of the immigrants' 
workers. As such, no better data on individual wages is available for Spain.  

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whereas Latinos are more concentrated in Domestic Services (21%, compared to 5% of 

Africans and 12% of Asians). Finally, Asian workers are primarily concentrated in Hotels 

(26%, compared with 9% of Africans and 13% of Latinos).  

 

As with respect to differences in occupational distribution, there are also notable 

differences between natives and immigrants. The vast majority of immigrants (85% of 

Africans, 61% of Latinos and 44% of Asians) work in Manual Jobs, either qualified or 

non-qualified. Differences among natives and immigrants are particularly huge at the two 

extremes of the occupational distribution, i.e., professionals (much higher incidence 

among natives, except for Asians), and non-qualified Manual Jobs, where the incidence 

of  immigrants is much higher than that of natives.  

[Insert Table 3] 

 

2.4. Labour Market Outcomes of Romas in Spain 

 

Although there are not precise statistics of educational attainment and labour 

market status of Romas in Spain, there is consensus that levels of school enrolment 

among the Roma population have improved significantly in recent years. According to 

sources from the FSGG  (2002) 

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, as of 2001, the vast majority or Romani children (90%) 

began school at the same age as their non-Roma classmates (enrolment of non-Roma 

majority population is 100%). Moreover, studies show that differences between Romani 

pupils' age and grade level tend to increase by the end of primary school. One important 

issue about Romanis' school attendance is that absenteeism is still very high. Irregular 

school attendance reaches 45% of Romas compared to 3.8% of non-Roma  ethnicity. 

                                                 

5

 FSGG states for Fundación Secretariado General Gitano.  

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However, in the very recent years, Romani families’ attitudes towards school appears to 

have changed considerably, and there is an increasing number of Romani parents 

monitoring their children's attendance and performance and participating in school-

relating activities. Finally, Romas are overrepresented in public schools.  

 

Regarding labour market situation of Romas, many Romani families are engaged 

in a combination of formal and informal employment; many are self-employed but are 

not registered as such. Street selling jobs take up an extremely high proportion of 

working age Roma Population (between 50 and 75 percent).  Around 20% of them are 

engaged in seasonal agricultural jobs.  

 

3. Labor Market Barriers 

 

Section 2  described raw differences between natives and ethnic minorities in 

Spain regarding personal demographic, educational and labour market characteristics. 

However, in order to be able to draw on any conclusion regarding possible labour market 

barriers faced by ethnic minorities, we must be able to see the extent to which 

disadvantages faced by the minority groups are due to their differences in productivity or 

to other non-productive related issues.  

 

As before, I will make a distinction between labour market barriers faced by 

immigrants and those faced by Romas given their very distinctive nature.  

 

 

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3.1. Labour market barriers faced by immigrants    

 

Labour market barriers may be the result of different  barrier types: There may be 

social barriers that may cause marginalization and exclusion in the labour market, 

linguistic barriers that prevent immigrants from fully integrating in the host country's 

labour force, or economic barriers that prevent workers to integrate adequately in the host 

labour market. Identification of social and linguistic barriers and  furthermore, the 

assessment of the impact of these barriers on the performance of immigrants in the host 

country's labour market requires the availability of large micro datasets containing 

information on natives' individual attitudes regarding ethnic minorities, language fluency  

and so no. To date, no such data exists for Spain, so it is not possible to analyze from an 

empirical viewpoint   the importance of these social and cultural barriers for the labour 

performance of immigrants in Spain.  

 

However, with respect to economic barriers it is possible to move forward. 

In particular, availability of micro data allows us to isolate the individual characteristics 

of natives and immigrants and see the extent to which identically observable natives and 

immigrants face different opportunities in the labour market. Furthermore, it is possible 

to assess whether these different opportunities change as immigrants lengthen their stay 

in Spain.  These different opportunities can be understood as labour market barriers. 

Identification of differences in labour market performance between natives and their 

"alike" immigrant  counterparts, as well as the dynamics of these differences as 

immigrants lengthen their stay in Spain may help us understand the labour market 

integration problems that  Spanish immigrants face.  

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Amuedo-Dorantes and De la Rica (2007) analyze the labour market integration of 

recent Spanish Immigrants in Spain

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. In particular, they examine in the first place 

immigrants’ employment integration as captured by changes in the employment 

probability differential between similar immigrants and natives as immigrants’ stay in 

Spain lengthens

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.  Secondly, they look at the integration occupation-wise of employed 

immigrants.  They rank occupations on the basis of their average earnings according to 

the 2002 Spanish Earnings Structure Survey and analyze immigrants’ occupational 

assimilation as their residencies in Spain lengthen relative to similarly skilled natives.  

The analysis is carried out separately by gender so as to uncover differences in the 

economic adaptation of male and female immigrants.  In addition, immigrants are 

distinguished according to their place of origin.  Several conclusions can be withdrawn 

from their analysis.  First, immigrant men and women appear significantly less likely to 

be employed than similarly skilled natives.  The employment gap varies by gender (from 

15 percent for men to 4 percent for women) as well as by immigrants’ origin.  In 

particular, African immigrants are only 8 percentage points less likely to be employed 

than comparable natives.  Among women, recently arrived Latino women are statistically 

more likely to be at work than alike natives.  Differences in the employment assimilation 

of various immigrant groups can be due to a variety of factors.  Specifically, Africans 

may primarily migrate to look for employment.  They may also have lower reservation 

wages owing to greater earnings differentials between Spain and their home countries or 

enjoy a lesser degree of skill or language transferability than other immigrant groups. 

 

                                                 

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 Asian immigrants are not included as a separate group in this work due to its small sample size.  

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 This issue has been treated, among others, by Bevelander and Nielsen (2000) in Sweden and Wheatley 

Price (1999) and Clark and Lindley (2005) in the U.K 

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Second, there exists evidence of an occupational attainment gap between  African  

and Latino immigrants and their native counterparts.  The data also seem to support the 

notion of upward occupational mobility and assimilation on the part of Latino immigrants 

as their Spanish residencies lengthen.  However, they find no clear pattern of 

occupational assimilation in the case of African immigrants, which could be linked to 

skill transferability reasons, language proficiency, and/or labour market discrimination.  

This study also examines differences in the occupational assimilation patterns of 

immigrants depending on their educational attainment.  They find that low educated male 

immigrants with lesser human capital experience a slower occupational assimilation 

process than their counterparts with a secondary education.  However, this pattern is only 

observed in the case of male immigrants, suggesting the existence of gender differences 

in the educational and occupational attainment of immigrants and natives possibly 

driving the different role played by education in explaining male and female immigrant 

assimilation

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.  

 

 

 

3.2. Labour market barriers faced by Romas in Spain  

 

Public opinion surveys show that Spaniards are tolerant of differences in 

nationality, race or religion compared to other European Union countries. However, there 

is a widely shared negative common perception of Roma. They are seen as a group that is 

resistant to integration. In this context, barriers against the entry of Roma in the labour 

market are quite significant. It is commonly believed that Romas "do not work", or even 

"would steal from their employers". Employment offices report that many companies 

                                                 

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 For more details on labour market integration of immigrants in Spain, see Amuedo-Dorantes and De la 

Rica (2007) 

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openly refuse to employ or even interview Romani applicants. As a rule, employment 

discrimination is more visible in the practice of private companies, but is not limited to 

the private sector. Indeed, NGOs have registered numerous cases of discrimination by 

both private and public employers (for more details, see EUMAP (2002), p. 311)). This 

practices are even more acute against Romani women. 

 

 

4. Public Policy 

4.1. Public Policies  aimed at Immigrants' Integration in Spain 

 

The main legislative acts existing in Spain regarding immigrants concern the 

immigrant entry rights and work permits. Given the recent nature of immigration in 

Spain, there are not many specific legislative initiatives aimed at eliminating labour 

market discrimination and promoting labour market integration of immigrants. However, 

we should mention some policy initiatives that the Government has recently developed so 

as to help immigrants' integration in the Spanish Labour Market.  

 

The first one was carried out by the Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs 

and consists on the creation of a Forum for the Social Integration of Immigrants . The 

Forum was created in 2000 and its purpose was (and continues to be)  to give service and 

support to the integration of immigrants who reside legally in Spain. Its composition, 

authority, responsibilities and operating regime are regulated in Royal Decree 367/2001, 

of 4 April, and its constituent assembly was held on December 19, 2001.  

 

The Forum for the Social Integration of Immigrants has the following functions:  

•  Draft proposals and recommendations tending to promote the integration of 

immigrants and refugees into Spanish society.  

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•  Receive information on programs and activities carried out by the national, regional 

and local governments in matters related to the social integration of immigrants.  

•  Collect and channel proposals formulated by social organizations that are active in the 

realm of immigration, with an eye toward ensuring the best possible coexistence of 

immigrants and their host society.  

•  Prepare an annual report on the tasks accomplished and on the status of immigrants’ 

and refugees’ social integration.  

•  Draft reports on the proposals, plans and programs that may affect immigrants’ social 

integration as required by the competent national government bodies.  

•  Whatever other actions that may be considered necessary with regard to the 

integration into Spanish society of legally resident foreign nationals, as well as any 

other action that the provisions in force may assign to the Forum.  

 

 

A second governmental initiative promoted to improve immigrants' integration in 

Spain is the creation of a Permanent Immigration Observatory. The Permanent 

Immigration Observatory is a collegial body that has the following assigned functions: 

data collection, analysis, study and publication of information with migratory movements 

in Spain. The Observatory is attached to the Ministry for Employment and Social Affairs 

through the Secretary of State for Immigration and Emigration. Its legal composition is 

stated in Royal Decree 345/2001, of April, which entrusts it with the following 

responsibilities, among others:  

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•  To act as a permanent body for the collection, analysis and exchange of information 

on matters concerning aliens, immigration and asylum among national and regional 

government agencies and local entities.  

•  Reception and analysis of the information supplied by public and private entities, as 

well as by organizations and associations that are related with immigration.  

•  Compilation, promotion and diffusion of the information obtained, as well as printing, 

publishing and distribution of studies, reports and information related to immigration.  

•  Preparation of studies and publications, both by the Observatory itself and by outside 

sources, among which the annual “Alien Affairs Statistical Yearbook” stands out.  

 

 

The Permanent Immigration Observatory functions in both plenary sessions and 

through technical and scientific committees. Its President is the Secretary of State for 

Immigration and Emigration. 

 

To my knowledge, there is no evaluation of the achievements obtained from both 

governmental initiatives regarding immigrants' integration.   

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4.2. Public Policies  aimed at Romas' Integration in Spain  

The idea of a national programme to improve the situation for Roma first 

appeared at the beginning of the 1980s. In 1985, Parliament created an administrative 

unit to oversee and provide funding for the implementation of development projects. It 

was called the Rome Development Program (RDP). A variety of "employment 

integration" schemes have received State and Regional funding through the RDP. This 

include pre-employment training, career guidance, assistance and supervision to help 

young Romas integrate into the labour market. The Ministry of Social Affairs have 

financed various programmes to assist street sellers, which as stated before, gives 

occupation to more than half of working age Romas.  

An encouraging development is called "Acceder". This is an EU-supported 

programme, which for the first time includes the Romani community as a special target 

group for the operative programmes of the European Social Fund. "Acceder" branches 

opened in each participating municipality function as a network of parallel employment 

offices for Roma, prividing training, counselling and mediation services.  

 

However, the RDP receives a variety of criticism from the Romani  

community, mainly because Romas are not participating in designing, implementing or 

evaluating the RDP at a national level.  

 

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5. Business Policy 

a) Overall Perception of the Social Partners Towards ethnic minorities in Spain:  

 

a.1) Perception towards immigrants:  

 

 

The Spanish Employer Confederation (CEOE)  is in favour of increasing the 

quotas of incoming immigrants considerably, since the production system needs more 

personnel - especially in catering, construction, and agriculture. At this stage, it is clear 

by everybody that immigrant workers accept (they have no choice) wages and working 

conditions that the Spanish workers do not accept, and suggest that matters would be 

different if wages rose and jobs were more secure in many of the sectors that today suffer 

from a shortage of workers. 

 

However, at this point all social partners (employers and unions) agree that there 

are two issues that must be undertaken with no delay: "regularise" the employment sector 

and irregular immigration in the country, and to manage labour migration through social 

dialogue. In this respect, the election of the new Spanish Government in March 2004 had 

led to a strategic turnaround in immigration policy, establishing a link between 

immigration and the labour market. A social dialogue has been set up and negotiations 

initiated with the main social players (employers and workers); the dialogue focuses, in 

part, on the measures that could be taken to improve the situation of irregular immigrants 

in the country. In this way, the special process of regularising the situation of migrants 

was initiated. The process has been a success and that all the proposed objectives have 

been adequately met, with the "administrative regularisation" of around 600 000 people.  

 

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The social dialogue promoted by the Spanish government has also resulted in the 

creation of a permanent Forum – the Comisión Laboral Tripartita (Tripartite Labour 

Committee) – made up of workers and employers and also dealing with immigration 

policy. The general objective of this committee is to boost legal immigration, focusing on 

the need to manage migratory flows (stepping up recruitment at place of origin), to 

pursue and penalise bad practices, and to have a flexible system enabling employers to 

act swiftly. Social dialogue seems to be accepted as a  good practice, and essential when 

tackling immigration; it is also needed in order to ensure that the rights acquired thus far 

are maintained.  

 

a.2) Perception towards Romas: 

 

Sociological research has suggested that Roma are the ethnic group most 

consistently rejected not only by employers, but also by teachers, pupils and society in 

general. Moreover, studies carried by the Romani Union indicate that media coverage of 

Roma and Romani issues is predominantly negative.  

 

In the last decade, there have been some governmental initiatives to cooperate 

with local press and television to improve the image of Romas in the mass media. 

However, these initiatives have proven to be of a symbolic rather than practical value.  

 

b) Companies and practices with ethnic minorities 

 

I do not know of any company that has either implemented desirable policies for 

immigrants (or Romas) or that has not done so on purpose. My view about this is that 

immigration is still a very recent phenomenon in Spain and that in general companies are 

far from thinking on implementing these kind of measures. Spain is still some steps 

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behind this stage compared with other EU countries, where immigration has been an 

issue for more than one generation. To date, companies are basically concerned with 

regularization of illegal immigrants and with reaching agreements with immigrants 

countries so as recruitment is done at place of origin. When these premises are already 

solved, there may be room for companies to think on good practices for ethnic minorities.  

 

6. Policy Implications 

6.1. Policy Implications directed to economic integration of Immigrants in Spain 

 

Although section 4 reveals that public initiatives regarding economic integration 

of Immigrants in Spain have been quite scarce, evidence from Amuedo-Dorantes and De 

la Rica (2007) reveals that Latinos and Asian Immigrants assimilate quite quickly in 

terms of employment and, although to a lesser extent, in terms of occupational upgrading. 

However, the analysis also reveals that there is more need to play close attention to 

immigrant groups displaying greater assimilation difficulties, as is the case with Africans, 

in order to prevent marginalization and subsequent social tensions (e.g. recent immigrant 

riots in France).  The offering of training programs that allow these immigrants to more 

easily transfer their human capital and acquire Spanish specific skills sought by 

employers in addition to language skills could prove useful in facilitating their 

adaptation.   

 

6.2. Policy Implications directed to economic integration of Romas in Spain  

 

The former sections have described the precarious situation of Romas in Spain, as 

well as the scarcity of well designed policy measures directed to improve their social and 

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economic integration. A number of policy recommendations can be done so as to 

improve their situation:  

- The first of all is to pass the necessary legislation to fully recognize Roma as an ethnic 

minority in Spain.  

- Take necessary legislative and policy measures to prevent and reverse segregation and 

ghettoisation of schools. Design initiatives that apply the concept of intercultural 

education, giving due consideration to the incorporation of positive aspects of Romani 

culture.  

- Establish independent specialised bodies capable of effectively implementing anti-

discrimination legislation at work.  

- Replace the Roma Development Programme with a new strategy at national level for 

the improvement of the labour situation of Roma, ensuring full participation of Romas in 

it.  

 

My last remark regarding Romas is that in spite of many political measures that 

can (and must) be undertaken, inasmuch as the general attitude towards Romas do not 

change in Spain, there is little room for the full social and economic integration of this 

ethnic minority group. To overcome a change in this general attitude, both Romas and the 

rest of the society must make a very important effort towards accepting and 

understanding the other.  

 

 

 

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References:  

 

Amuedo-Dorantes and De la Rica (2007), "Labour Market Assimilation of Recent 

 

Immigrants in Spain", forthcoming in British Journal of Industrial Relations.  

Bevelander,  P. and HS Nielsen.  (2001).  “Declining employment success of immigrant 

 

males in Sweden: Observed or Unobserved characteristics?”, Journal of 

 Population 

Economics, 14 (3) , pp: 455-472. 

Clark, K. and J. Lindley (2005), “Immigrant Labour Market Assimilation and Arrival 

Effects: Evidence from the Labour Force Survey”, Sheffield Economic Research 

Paper Series, No. 2005004, University of Sheffield.  

EUMAP (2002). "The Situation of Roma in Spain", available at 

(http://www.eumap.org/reports/2002/eu/international/sections/spain/2002_m_spai

n.pdf). 

FSGG (2002), "Evaluation of Educational Normalisation of Romani Children", Madrid, 

2002, p. 190 

Wheatly Price S.  (1999).  “The employment adjustment of male immigrants in England”, 

 

Journal of Population Economics, 14(1), pp: 193-220 

 

 

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20

Figure 1 

 Evolution of Foreign Residents in Spain by Place of Origin, 1995-2004 

0

400

800

1200

1600

2000

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2002

2003

2004

Years

Thous

ands

European

Latin-American

African

 

Source: Anuario de Extranjería and Permanent Observatory of Immigration (Immigrants with 
Residence Permits). 

 

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21

 

 

Table 1 

Average Basic Demographic Characteristics of  Natives  

and Ethnic Minorities in Spain 

 

 All 

Natives 

African Latinos 

Asian 

Share of the 
Population 

100 96.2 

0.81 

1.53 

0.17 

Age 

 

39.4 39.7 27.8 

29.6 

31.6 

Proportion  
Female 

 

51 51 

34.1 

55.7 

43.3 

Proportion 
Workingage 
 

68.4 68.0 

80.12 

81.7 

83.52 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regional 
Distribution 
(%) 

 

 

 

 

 

 Madrid 

13.27 

12.9 

16.02 

47.2 

26.2 

Catalonia 

15.5 15.4 30.8 

17.9 

32.7 

Valencia 9.01 

8.9 

7.21 

9.8 

7.5 

Andalusia 18.01 

18.2 

12.9 

6.13 

8.7 

Balear and 
Canary Islands 

6.2 6.0 6.4 

8.6 

12.4 

 

 

 

 

 

 

N. 
observations 

2.039.255

0.961.634

16.515 31.137 3.520 

 

    

Source: 2001 Census (Spanish Institute of Statistics)      

 

    Notes: All Individuals included 

 
 

     

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22

 

Table 2 

Average Individual Characteristics of  Natives and  

Ethnic Minorities in Spain: Education and Labour Market Status 

 

 All 

Natives 

African Latinos 

Asian 

Age 

 

38.4 38.6 31.9 

32.7 

34.5 

Education (%) 

 

 

 

 

 

 Less primary 

8.6 

8.4 

32.6 

6.8 

13.9 

Primary 20.0 

20.12 

26.5 

17.3 

19.3 

Secondary 55.3 

55.4 

34.9 

60.5 

51.5 

University 15.7 

15.8 

4.9 

14.5 

14.0 

Labour Market 
Status 

 

 

 

 

 

Labour Force 
Participation 

67.6 67.3 77.0 

77.9 

75.8 

Unemployed 

9.6 9.5 

14.4 

13.6 

11.3 

 

 

 

 

 

 

N. 
observations 

1.395.893

1.331.929

13.233 25.250 2.940 

 

    

Source: 2001 Census (Spanish Institute of Statistics)      

 

    Notes: Working aged   individuals (16-65) included. 

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23

 
 

Table 3 

Job Characteristics  of  Natives and Ethnic Minorities in Spain:  

Type of Employment, Industry and Occupational Distribution 

 All 

Natives 

African 

Latinos 

Asian 

Type of 
Employment (%) 

 

 

 

 

 

Employer 

6.47 6.57 2.41 2.75 9.20 

Self-Employed 

10.33 10.47  6.28  5.71  11.04 

Salary Worker 

82.26 82.02 90.58 90.66 79.01 

Permanent 
Contract 

54.7 55.6 27.5 38.01 

38.61 

Average monthly 
wages (gross) 

1669.7 

(1305.9) 

1677.7 

(1305.9) 

1088.1 

(484.7) 

1127.5 

(965.2) 

--- 

Average hourly 
wages (gross) 

9.78 

(7.83) 

9.83 

(7.76) 

6.23 

(2.83) 

6.46 

(5.55) 

--- 

Industry 
Distribution (%) 

 

 

 

 

 

Agriculture 6.32 

6.07 

24.09 

7.96 

4.44 

Construction 11.76 

11.47 

24.88 

16.05 

10.93 

Trade 15.46 

15.66 

11.89 

9.82 

17.79 

Hotels 6.22 

5.89 

8.83 

13.31 

25.58 

Services 32.97 

33.72 

8.58 

17.52 

13.60 

Domestic 
Services 

2.26 1.76 5.11 20.69 

11.98 

Occupational 
Distribution (%) 

 

 

 

 

 

Professional 8.7 

8.84 

2.63 

3.43 

10.04 

Technical 

23.04 23.55  3.88  11.07  9.99 

Clerical Jobs 

24.48 

24.60 

14.93 

23.94 

33.3 

Qualified 
Manual Jobs 

31.44 31.68 35.36 23.58 20.51 

Non-Qualified 
Manual Jobs 

11.54 10.57 39.90 36.64 23.55 

N. observations 

818.084 

729.960 

8.317 

16.470 

1.911 

Source: 2001 Census (Spanish Institute of Statistics)  ; Information on wages is taken 
from the 2002 Spanish Earnings Structure Survey . Information on Asian wages is 
not available.      

 

     Notes: Employed individuals included.