Migrant Labor Makes a Positive Difference in Spain

March 2, 2025

(3 Minutes Read)

While Trump pledges to close borders and expel millions of foreigners, Spain’s government, business owners, and economists agree that migrant workers are key to success.

Many feel that migrant labour has made a difference in the economic prospects of Spain, where people from 62 different nationalities work side by side. Migrants’ presence is mostly seen in the food processing sector, which is largely a labor-intensive sector.

For instance, BonÀrea food company is dependent on migrant labor to run its operations. The migrant workforce comes mainly from Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Morocco, and Senegal. BonÀrea is extra reliant on foreign labor, with 40% of its 5,000-strong workforce foreign-born, but its formula for success has been reproduced across businesses in Spain to make it the envy of the industrialized world.

Spain’s economy was projected to have grown by 3% last year, smashing the Eurozone average of a paltry 0.8%, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. That even beats the United States growth rate of 2.8%, according to OECD projected figures. And while Trump pledges to close borders and expel millions of foreigners, Spain’s government, business owners, and economists agree that migrant workers are key to the success.

Practically all the population growth in Spain since the COVID-19 pandemic is due to immigration, with 1.1 million people having arrived in 2022, according to the Bank of Spain. The bank credits the newcomers with sustaining the social security system of an aging Spain.

The central bank says that 85% of the 433,000 people who found a job last year between January and September were foreign-born. It adds that 70% of working-age foreigners were working in Spain in 2022, compared to 56% of native Spaniards. Spain bucks anti-migration trend Spain’s economic success comes amid a widespread shift among the governments of rich countries toward tightening borders and the blatant anti-migrant rhetoric of Trump.

Across Europe, the rise of anti-immigrant sentiment has spurred far right political parties. The far-right had a chance to govern in Austria, and Germany’s far-right party AfD came in second in Sunday’s general elections with 20.5% of the votes, doubling its previous results. France’s National Rally is likewise bullish on its chance to eventually take power.

Spain has seen the rise of far-right, anti-migration political forces who fixate on unauthorized migration from Africa and Islamic countries.

Spain has, like many governments, struggled with unauthorized migration across the Mediterranean Sea and backed EU deals with Morocco to try to stem flows. Yet Spain, under Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, has no plans to stop its influx of authorized foreigners. Sánchez has stuck by his defense of legal migration, especially given its economic benefits.