VZCZCXRO8932
PP RUEHLA
DE RUEHMD #1134/01 3291622
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 251622Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1489
INFO RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 4230

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 001134 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/WE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON PREF PREL SMIG
SUBJECT: IMMIGRANTS IN SPAIN: FEWER JOB OPPORTUNITIES, 
FEWER REMITTANCES BACK HOME 
 
REF: A. A. MADRID 835 
     ¶B. B. CASABLANCA 144 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY. With unemployment nearing 20 percent, immigrants 
in Spain are finding work sparse and low-paying, according to 
informal interviews conducted in past several months. 
Immigrants, many from Latin America or North Africa, have 
seen previously abundant sources of work dry up in the first 
half of 2009, and have reduced remittances to their home 
countries.  However, few are considering returning to their 
home countries, saying that the situation there is often 
worse.   END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  About half of all immigrants moving to Spain are actively 
seeking work; however, less than 10% have a job before they 
arrive.  While this may have been sustainable during boom 
years, immigrants are now experiencing difficulties finding 
work.   The latest active population survey from the end of 
September 2009 revealed that for the first time in 13 years 
(since the third quarter of 1996) there are fewer immigrants 
living in Spain compared with the previous study.  Data 
collected by the National Statistics Institute suggests that 
there were 30,000 fewer immigrants from Latin America, while 
a significant number of Romanians and other EU immigrants 
returned home.  Analysts attribute the shift to a halt in 
arrivals, along with a rise in departures.  The press has 
reported that the number of illegal immigrants arriving from 
Sub-Sahara Africa, frequently traveling by boat to the Canary 
Islands, has also declined as word spreads in African 
communities that fewer job opportunities are available and 
life in Spain is more difficult  than it used to be. 
 
// Immigrants Seek Legal Status as Work Becomes Scarce // 
 
¶3.  To determine the impact of the economic crisis on 
immigrant populations, POL staff surveyed immigrants outside 
the offices of the Ministry of Territorial Policy, (where 
work and residency permits applications are filed) during the 
last several months.  Over 60 percent of immigrants in Spain 
have been here for over five years.  Of those we spoke with, 
many had previously been able to work without official 
papers.  With less "off the books" work available, immigrants 
have turned to the government for permits to work legally. 
As a Peruvian migrant explained, "there is no more working 
without papers."  Since 2007, he had worked construction jobs 
in Spain without papers.  Since the onset of the crisis, he 
said, there have been fewer jobs, and the process for getting 
a working permit has become more difficult.  Note: Many 
immigrants may also be applying for work permits as a path to 
residency.  As residents, they would be able to collect 
generous unemployment benefits.  End Note. 
 
// Remittances Decrease as Immigrants Struggle to Cover Costs 
// 
 
¶4.   Almost every immigrant interviewed has been sending 
money to his or her home country to support family left 
behind.  Many used to make weekly or monthly contribution, 
and have now cut back, in some cases stop cases not being 
able to send anything.  Even with the crisis, however, many 
still try to send what they can.  Patricia, who came to Spain 
in 2003 from her native Bolivia, has been able to continue 
sending money back to the family she left behind, albeit less 
than she did before.  For her, the exchange rate is such that 
a small number of Euros can amount to a significant 
remittance when converted to Bolivianos.  One Moroccan man 
described the economic situation as "terrible," saying that 
he has had to stop remittances all together.  Many of the 
700,000 Moroccans in Spain may be facing similar situations 
(ref B), as Moroccans were disproportionately represented in 
the construction industry, which collapsed after a long boom. 
 
// Staying in Spain, through Good Times and Bad // 
 
¶5.   Even though almost all of those interviewed have seen 
reductions in income in recent months, many say they would 
rather stay in Spain and wait for an economic recovery than 
return to their home country.  Ezuma left his native Nigeria 
in 2003 to work in Spanish factories and construction jobs. 
Even though he has not been able to find work in Spain for 
months, he has no desire to return to Nigeria because "has no 
life there."  He obtained Spanish nationality, and in doing 
so had to renounce his Nigerian citizenship.  Even many who 
have been here for less time want to bear the crisis in Spain 
and wait for times to get better.  Dante, a Peruvian 
immigrant who has been in Spain for three and a half years, 
explained: "the 2,000 percent inflation we had to live with 
in Peru makes even today,s situation in Spain seem 
pleasant."  The GOS initiated a program to give illegal 
immigrants incentives to return to their home countries.  The 
 
MADRID 00001134  002 OF 002 
 
 
national government offers to pay for a flight home and 
nominal financial assistance.   In addition, the GOS operates 
an incentive program for legal immigrants to depart Spain. 
However, according the Ministry of Labor and Immigration, as 
of the third quarter of 2009 only a very small percentage 
(8,724 people) requested voluntary return from a legal 
immigrant population of 4.5 million. The countries with the 
most voluntary return requests were Ecuador (44 percent), 
Colombia (18 percent), and Argentina (9 percent).  There have 
been very few applications from North Africans or Sub-Saharan 
Africans. 
 
// Intra-Immigrant Community Resentment Builds as Resources 
Become Scarce // 
 
¶6.   Among immigrants from different countries, some are 
beginning to show resentment towards others.  This often 
stems from jealously of perceived discrepancies in work 
opportunities or legal status.  For example, Jorge from Peru 
thinks the Chinese find work more easily, citing the large 
number of Chinese businesses in Madrid.  He opined that the 
Chinese in Spain are not significantly suffering from the 
crisis.  Amir from Pakistan has been struggling to apply for 
official papers after being in Spain for three years and 
working without papers as a waiter.  He expressed frustration 
that he had to compete with the large population of 
Bulgarians and Romanians, who, because of the EU,s common 
market labor laws, have the right to work legally in Spain. 
 
//COMMENT: Low Potential for Radical Extremism due to 
Economic Crisis // 
 
¶7.   In this small sampling, immigrants did not express any 
disfranchisement or frustration that appeared it might 
potentially led to radicalism caused by the current economic 
crisis.  As an example of efforts to ameliorate the 
situation, the Andalusian regional government, in 
coordination with several NGOs focused on labor rights, ran 
outreach campaigns to inform potential immigrants that there 
were no jobs available in the vast olive groves of Jaen this 
year (unemployed Spaniards are being hired for the harvest). 
Among those immigrants we interviewed, there was general 
sentiment that the rapid growth in the Spanish economy 
through the greater part of the decade, and the preponderance 
of construction sector jobs, created a temporary "boom".  For 
many immigrants the bust has been equally rapid.  However, 
those who have chosen to remain in country believe this phase 
of the economic crisis to be a temporary hardship.  They 
remain optimistic about their future prospects.  END COMMENT. 
 
CHACON