What do we talk about when we talk about immigration?

The entire debate surrounding immigration is multifaceted and easily exploited by demagogic and populist rhetoric. That's why it's important to have data that allows us to analyze the phenomenon in all its dimensions. The study published this Thursday by Funcas is particularly interesting, as it estimates that foreign workers have contributed 47% to the growth of the Spanish economy since 2022. In other words, half of the growth is directly attributable to immigration. Put another way, without this contribution of foreign labor, growth would be half, or even lower, because entire sectors would be on the verge of collapse. This report also confirms that newcomers overwhelmingly perform the hardest and lowest-paying jobs, while locals dominate the jobs that require more training and are therefore better paid. This is a reality that is readily apparent in our immediate surroundings. Whether in the fields during harvest time, in slaughterhouses, on roads making repairs, or in the care sector, foreigners now represent the majority of the workforce. Specifically, the primary sector is entirely dependent on foreign workers, as are increasingly other sectors such as construction. It is estimated that almost all of the 2 million workers who have joined the Social Security system since 2019 are foreign, and their contribution is key to explaining the recovery of a pension fund that was nearly depleted during the economic crisis.

It is evident, then, that the path Spain has found to grow well above the European average is based on the arrival of this workforce, which means that today foreigners are a substantial part of the population. In fact, it was revealed today that Spain has surpassed the figure of 10 million foreign-born citizens for the first time. Does this mean it's all advantages? Absolutely not. The arrival of significant contingents of foreign population anywhere poses important challenges in the area of ​​social cohesion, such as the emergence of pockets of poverty that are also very visible. This has always been the case.

Just this Thursday, the Congress of Deputies approved a law to toughen penalties for repeat offenders with the support of the two main parties, the PP and the PSOE, and all the other conservative parties, including the PNV and Junts, which was the proposing force. Repeat offenders have become a problem due, among other things, to the backlog in the courts. The far right directly links immigration to repeat offenders while ignoring data on economic growth. Meanwhile, Switzerland will vote in a referendum on limiting its population to 10 million (currently 9.1 million). These proposals may appeal to some, but what will happen when the population ages? Who will contribute to social security and pay taxes? What will the demographic pyramid look like? In any case, these are debates that cannot be held without all the facts.