Foreign employment has accelerated strongly in Spain coinciding with the launch of the extraordinary migrant regularization process carried out by the Government of Pedro Sánchez. Social Security reached a new record of 3.51 million foreign affiliates on average in July, after adding 66,046 employed in a single month and 420,875 in the last year, according to data published this Friday by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations.
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The leap is especially significant compared to the evolution of recent months. In October last year, foreign affiliation exceeded 3.1 million workers for the first time and was growing at an annual rate of 7.2%. Nine months later, growth has accelerated to 13.6%, a percentage that is practically five times the 2.8% at which the overall affiliation is currently advancing.
Part of this acceleration coincides with the extraordinary regularization process launched in mid-April. As of July 30, 262,475 foreign persons were already registered with Social Security as a result of this procedure. More than eight out of ten, 213,883, have joined the General Regime, while another 12,675 have done so as self-employed workers.
In hospitality, practically one in three workers is foreign
The regularization has thus given a new boost to a trend that was already gaining weight in the Spanish labor market. Foreign workers represented 14.2% of all affiliates in October 2025 and now account for 15.6%, more than one percentage point additional in just nine months.
Their presence remains especially important in those activities with a high demand for labor. In hospitality, practically one in three workers is foreign, with a weight of 32.9%, while they represent 28% of affiliates in agriculture and 26.6% in construction. The proportion increases even more in the Special Household System, where they reach 46.7%, and in the Agricultural sector, with 39.2%.
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43% of foreign affiliates are women
The Ministry highlights, however, a progressive diversification of foreign employment, a trend that was already observed before the regularization. For example, increases in foreign workers are experienced in activities such as transport, manufacturing industry, health or public administration, but also in higher value-added sectors such as financial activities, information and communications or scientific and technical professions.
By origin, Morocco continues to be the country that provides the most workers, with 415,310 affiliates, followed by Colombia, with 347,467, and Romania, with 342,555. Next are Venezuela, Italy, China, Peru and Ukraine. Just over a quarter of all foreign workers, 27.5%, come from European Union countries.
The weight of women also continues to increase. Of the 3.51 million foreign affiliates registered in July, 1.5 million are women, nearly 43% of the total, while just over two million are men.
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