Immigration->Joaquín Arango

Exceptional in Europe? Spain´s experience with immigration and integration.

By Juaquín Arango.

We can affirm that Spain is one of the most “open-mind” countries with the immigration and integration topic. Despite the economical crisis and the unemployment, Spain´s wave of immigration has not led to the public and political backlash that has been characteristic of other immigrant-receiving countries in Europe.

In just a decade, Spain´s foreign born population increased from less than 4 percent of the total population to almost 14 percent. Most Spaniards still view immigration though the lens of the labour market, mostly Spanish people belief that immigrants are entitled to the same rights as other members of society.

In some cases, some parties of the Spanish government wanted to reduce the immigration in Spain but they were quickly criticised.

1.     The facts: Spain, a particular case?

Before the crisis.

We can appreciate that the current economic crisis has not led to a backlash against immigration in Spain. The immigrant share of the total population grew just for under 4 percent to almost 14 percent. Spain is the second-largest recipient of immigrants in absolute terms among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, following the United States.

This big number of immigrants causes more number of jobs because the demand rises. A virtuous circle between economic growth and immigration took place. Immigration was seen as a requirement of the labour market, an outcome of economic progress and even a sign of modernity, obviously is good for us.

In Spain we can find a big number of pro-immigrant and anti-racist groups and not many xenophobic ones. There are many unauthorized immigrants, around 1 million people in 2004, and PP did some laws to reduce this number and to increase the number of immigrants “legal”.

The Spanish government has shown a strong commitment to immigrant integration, which has been a central component of immigration policy since the 1990s. These integration policies have not been characterized by requirements to pass tests on language or civic knowledge.

Here in Spain, the only requirement to be “legal” is been registered in the municipal population register, all immigrants receive a health card that entitles them to full health coverage and access to education for their children. This situation is going to change with a law of the PP.

Under the spell of crisis

People thought that Spain´s general acceptance of immigrants would change when the long period of sustained economic growth finally came to an end. The construction sector was the first hit by the crisis, and this situation also affected banks. Many people had lost their jobs during this year’s but interestingly; the crisis has not significantly altered social attitudes toward immigration.

The marked decline in the number of immigrants admitted yearly for employment purposes since 2009 is not explained by more restrictive admission criteria but rather by the self-adjusting nature of admission mechanisms in a context of shrinking demand.

Spanish government has made efforts to extend voting rights to immigrants outside the European Union.

Qualitative surveys suggest that the reason cited by many citizens to justify immigration may be losing ground due to the high levels of joblessness.

The case of Catalonia

While there has not been significant backlash at the national level, in Catalonia was different in some cases: one populist, openly xenophobic party (Plataforma per Catalunya) received more than 75.000 votes in 2010, in other occasion one conservative PP candidate who had also “differences” with the immigration ran for major in 2011, in Badalona.

2.     Searching for an Explanation: some possible clues.

Immigrant Demographics and labor force participation

The majority of immigrants arrived in recent years. At the beginning of 2012, 55.9 percent of immigrants were in the 20-44 age group; the labor-force participation rates of immigrants are higher than those of the rest of the population.

Immigration to Spain is, above all, for the sake of jobs. Most immigrants have come to Spain in search of employment. This implies that most immigrants are economically active and productive. Many studies say that immigrants in Spain have made a highly positive contribution to economic growth.

Political culture.

A decisive factor behind the cam reception of large-scale immigration to Spain has been the predominantly pro-immigrant orientation of public powers and political actors across all levels of government and society.

The core of our political culture formed the basis for attitudes toward immigration.

With this information we are not saying that immigration has not opposition. Immigrants have friends and foes. Opposition toward immigration is more understated here than perhaps anywhere else on the continent.

Talking about the government, we have to say that they are important differences with immigration between the 2 major parties. PP is more “conservative” and “hard” with this topic.

National identity.

Concerns over national identity seem less relevant for attitudes towards immigration in Spain than in other countries. With the exception of Catalonia, immigration is not perceived as a threat to national identity.

3.     Conclusions

In Spain´s relative egalitarianism likely to persist into the foreseeable future, or will attitudes and policies toward immigration and integration increasingly mirrors those that prevail across much of Europe?

The job market looks to be getting worse. Also the political orientation of the central government shifted in 2011. With PSOE immigration had a lot of importance. However, PP does not talk too much about it.

Yet if restrictions polices come to the fore, it is likely they will meet resistance form both political opposition parties and civil-society groups.

Finally the recommendations are: government action at the federal, regional and local levels, in close cooperation with CSOs, will be necessary to maintain immigrant integration efforts and prevent the deterioration of general attitudes toward immigrants.