Foreign workers help Spain's economic growth outpace the US and the rest of Europe
World
Tapping into foreign labor helped Spain’s economy grow by about 3% last year
GUISSONA, Spain (AP) — Inside a cavernous production plant in Spain, people from 62 nationalities work side by side to keep a food company humming as millions of legs of ham travel on hooks along conveyor belts.
Foreign workers have helped to make Spain’s economy the envy of the industrialized world, even as anti-immigration sentiments grow elsewhere in Europe and in the United States.
“BonÀrea would not be possible if it weren’t for the people from other countries who have come here to work. We should be eternally grateful to them,” the company’s head of human resources, Xavier Moreno, told The Associated Press during a recent visit.
Tapping into foreign labor helped Spain’s economy grow by about 3% last year, smashing the euro zone average of 0.8%, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
That also beat the U.S. growth rate of 2.8%, according to OECD projected figures, where President Donald Trump has pledged to close borders and deport immigrants who are in the country illegally.
Spain’s ministry for social security and migration says 45% of all jobs created since 2022 have been filled by around half a million new foreign-born workers. Nearly 3 million foreigners now represent 13% of the country’s workforce.
