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Asylum seekers like these can find work in Spain six months after arriving
A group of sub-Saharan African men play bingo in a hotel conference room near the northern Spanish city of León.
They laugh and rejoice when their numbers are called, but many of these asylum seekers have harrowing stories.
Among them is Michael, who fled Ghana to escape a violent feud that saw his sister and father killed. After traveling overland to Morocco, he paid a trafficker who put him on a rubber boat full of people that took him to the Canary Islands.
“I was so happy because I knew all my problems and those who were trying to kill me were behind me,” he said. “Because once you are in Spain, you are safe.”
In Ghana, he worked as a gas station attendant and storekeeper. He has also started studying human resources management, which he hopes to continue in Spain once he settles.
“Spain is one of the most respected countries in the world,” he says. “Being here is an opportunity for me. »
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Migrants and refugees trying to take small boats to Spain often have to be rescued
Around 170 asylum seekers are staying in this hotel in the town of Villaquilambre, transformed into a center for migrants.
They are part of the thousands of people who use the sea route between the African coast and Spain each year.
Since the start of the year, more than 42,000 undocumented migrants have arrived in Spain, an increase of 59% compared to 2023, with the vast majority having undertaken the perilous crossing to the Canary Islands.
The archipelago's difficulties in managing these large numbers have contributed to a fierce political debate on immigration, like that in many other European countries. In Spain, the controversy is largely driven by the far-right Vox party, which frequently refers to the trend as an “invasion.”
However, these arrivals also highlighted a major potential source of labor for an economy facing serious demographic challenges.
Javier Díaz-Giménez, professor of economics at IESE and pensions expert, says the baby boom that lasted from the mid-1950s to the end of the 1970s gave rise to a generation of Spaniards who are heading towards retirement age, and the subsequent “baby crash” means there are not enough workers to replace them.
“The next 20 years are going to be crucial, because more and more people are going to retire,” he says. “According to the most recent demographic scenario, 14.1 million people will retire during this period.”
One way to address the labor gap, he says, is to emulate the type of economic model implemented by Japan, which has a similarly low birth rate, by investing heavily in algorithms and machines. The obvious alternative to this is immigration.
“If you want to grow GDP, if you want to pay the pensions of all the baby boomers who are retiring, you have to grow GDP in a different way than the way we do it now, because it doesn't There won't be as many people, unless we bring them in through immigration,” adds Professor Díaz-Giménez.
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Spain has an aging population
The Spanish central bank has quantified the expected labor shortage. A report released in April said the country will need about 25 million immigrants over the next 30 years.
Spain's left-wing government has also championed the economic cause of immigrants, with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez describing them as representing “wealth, development and prosperity” for his country during a recent tour of Mauritania, Gambia and the Senegal.
“The contribution of migrant workers to our economy is fundamental, as is the sustainability of our social security system and our pensions,” he said.
Mr. Sánchez's coalition hopes that a proposal to legalize the status of 500,000 undocumented migrants, mainly from Latin America, will be adopted by Parliament. Spain has seen nine such mass regularizations during its democratic era, most recently in 2005 under a previous government led by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party.
However, the country's economic needs contrast with ordinary Spaniards' perceptions of immigration. A new poll shows that 41% of citizens are “very concerned” about this phenomenon, making it their fifth concern after inflation, housing, inequality and unemployment.
While only 9% of Spaniards associate immigrants with economic progress, 30% associate them with insecurity and 57% believe that there are too many.
Villaquilambre, meanwhile, is an example of how undocumented newcomers can integrate into the job market.
Here, asylum seekers are allowed to work six months after arriving in Spain.
“Before they receive authorization to start working, we attach great importance to their learning Spanish, as well as offering them training courses and courses on risk prevention,” explains Dolores Queiro , of the San Juan de Dios Foundation, the non-governmental organization that manages the Villaquilambre migrant center.
“When their start date approaches, we contact different companies – and they also contact us – and we start looking for work for them.”
Companies contact us, she says, “because they know we have people here who want to work.”
Makan, from Mali, now works for a local Spanish company
Makan, from Mali, has just started working for a local company, GraMaLeon, which makes marble and granite walls, bathrooms and kitchen counters. He travels the short distance from the hotel to the factory every day on an electric scooter.
“I'm happy to work,” he says in halting Spanish, after carrying marble slabs into the factory.
Ramiro Rodríguez Alaez, co-owner of the company which employs around twenty people, says it is not easy to find staff.
“We need a lot of labor in this profession. But it's hard, it's cold, you have to lift heavy weights, so it's not a job that many young people here want to do.
“There aren't many businesses in this sector around here, but the ones that exist all need staff. We're all looking for people locally and having trouble finding them.
He adds: “Immigrants are an important source of labor for us. »
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