In Catalonia, 49.1% of foreign workers with higher education are overqualified, which means more than 142,000 people are working below their educational level. This is highlighted in the study Good practices in the labor integration of migrants, presented this Tuesday by the CTESC. Among those who arrive in the country having completed post-compulsory studies, this percentage is 38.5%.
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The report highlights that this overqualification affects non-EU immigrants more: it reaches 44.1% in total and 58.1% among those with higher education. This mismatch between university education and the jobs performed, which do not require that educational level, is especially notable among the population of African nationality (62.0%) and those from Asia and Oceania (63.9%). Similarly, the CTESC points out that immigrant workers concentrate almost three times as many low-skilled occupations (21.7%) as the Spanish population (7.7%).
The entity also highlights that foreign women are the worst affected by this situation: their overall overqualification rate is 45.5% and 52% among community women. This engagement in less qualified occupations contrasts with the fact that active foreign women have a slightly higher educational level than foreign men and somewhat lower than Spanish women.
The CTESC highlights that non-EU migrant women are the worst affected by this situation
In response to this effect, the CTESC recommends as a good practice for the labor integration of migrants the programs for skills accreditation and degree recognition. The “excessive bureaucracy” and the “slowness of these procedures,” the organization emphasizes, often act as a barrier for newly arrived people to obtain jobs more suited to their educational level.
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The body advising the Generalitat on labor matters recalls that migrations “have been the main driver of population growth in Catalonia since 2018.” Although many of these people end up working, the CTESC points out that only 17% of the first residence permits granted in 2024 in Spain were for work reasons.
The study explains how the participation of foreigners in the Catalan labor market is characterized by activity rates similar to those of Spaniards, but lower employment levels and higher unemployment rates. Unemployment among migrants is 13.9%, compared to 7.7% among natives, with worse indicators for some nationalities such as Africans, at 28.4%.
Among the good practices identified by the CTESC, special emphasis is also placed on language as a “key” and “accelerator” element for the labor integration of migrants. Additionally, the CTESC suggests promoting and scaling programs based on personalized pathways, which combine hiring, guidance, training, and mentoring. Finally, it considers that extraordinary regularizations, such as the one promoted by the Spanish government this year, “represent a structural opportunity,” but warns that their effectiveness will depend on the capacity of immigration offices and public employment services. “It is necessary to strengthen resources and administrative coordination,” it concludes.
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