19/11/14 - Arango's Text resume

Excepcional in Europe? Spain's Experience with Immigration and Integration

In just a decade, Spain's foreign-born population increased from less tha 4% of the total population to almost 14%.
Most Spaniards stillview immigration through the lens of the labor market.

Spain's wave of immigration has not led to the public and political blacklash that has been characterristic of other immigrant-receiving countries in Erope.

Spain hit hardest by the economic crisis and with some of Europe's highest levels of unemployment, has not seen a wave anti-immigrant sentiment among either general populance or the political class.
The current economic crisis has not led to a blackash against immigration in spain. Between 2000 and 2009 Spain's foreing born went from under 1.5million to over 6.5 million. spain is the second largest recipient of immigrants.

The economic growth was the mais driver behind the rise in the number of immigrants. There was a high demand for foreing labor, to fill low, or semi-skilled job.
Some segments  of the population were worried about the growing number of immigrants, but they accepted that these workers were needed.

Emigration policies have tended to be open, and integration efforts sustained and comprehensive. The number of unauthorized immigrants began increasing rapidly in 2000. But the new regulation of 2005 contribued to lower this number.

The Spanish government has shown a strong commitment to immigrants integration, which has been a central component of immigration policy since the 1990s. A nationanal integration plan included the stablishment in the same year of valuablee instruments such as the Permanent Observatory for Immigration and the Forum for the Social Integration of Immigrants.
Similar bodies have been created in several religions.

A legal reform passed in 2000 extended welfare benefits (health an education). The only requirement is that they be registered in the municipar population register. The registation is mandatory for all residents in the municipality.
This peculiar feature will soon dissapear.

Spain's general acceptance of immigrants would change when the long period of sustained economic growth finally came to an end.
In 2005 about the 36% of male immigrants were empoyed in the construction sector. These men were far more likely to have lost their job during the crisis than their female counterparts, predominantly employed in the services sector.
There has ben an increase in immigrants unemployment during the first quarter of 2012.


No major social disruptions have been reported since the onset of the crisis, and politicization of immigration has not significantly increased.
The reason cited by many citizens to justify immigration may be losing ground due to the high levels of joblessness. This may explain the decline in the proportion of citizens harboting ambivalent attitudes toward immigration and suggest why some of them may have turned adverse.

Is Span's relative egalitarianism likely to persist into he foreseeable future, or will attitudes and policies toward immigrtion and integration increasingly mirror those that prevail across much of Europe?

Yet if restrictionist policies come to the fore, it is likely they will meet resistance from both political opposition parties and civil-socity grounds.