Labour market situation of female immigrants examined

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The number of women migrating to Spain for work has risen sharply in recent years, partly due to increasing demand for workers to do jobs with low pay and prestige, in sectors (such as domestic service) where most of the workforce is female. The situation is a matter of concern for trade unions. This article reviews the position in 2004, drawing on recent research about the labour market situation of female immigrants.

Spain has undergone a major increase in immigration in recent years ((ES0401204F, ES0405204F and ES0209204F), reversing the direction of the migratory flows that had previously made it as an 'exporter' of labour. Economic growth in the past few years has fostered the increase in immigration, despite Spain's continuing high levels of unemployment. There is a high demand for workers to fill unskilled and low-prestige jobs, particularly in sectors with a high proportion of women workers, which explains a sharp rise in the number of female immigrants. Most immigrants have come to Spain for economic reasons rather than for family reunification, though the latter is often a particular factor among Moroccan women whose husbands emigrated to Spain years ago. According to the Municipal Register of Inhabitants (Padrón Municipal de Habitantes), the number of foreign women registered in Spain multiplied by five between 1996 and 2003. In this period the number of women from eastern Europe multiplied by seven and the number from Central and South America by 14. These figures are far higher than those for women from other areas. The proportion of men and women has thus been balanced: of the 2.7 million (non-EU) foreign nationals registered in 2003, almost 1.3 million were women. These women came mainly from Ecuador (199,800 female immigrants, 21% of all immigrant women), Colombia (139,600), Morocco (123,500), Romania (58,500), Argentina (53,600) and Peru and the Dominican Republic (about 30,000 each).

Ecuadorian women form the largest group of female immigrants on the labour market: they represent 25% of non-EU national female social security contributors and one out of 10 non-EU social security contributors of both sexes. Women originating in Central and South America and non-EU Europe have an employment rate of 70%, which is higher even than that of female Spanish nationals. The employment rate of women from African countries is less than 50%.

On the other hand, the unemployment rate among immigrants is three points higher than the Spanish average and - as among Spanish workers - it affects women more than men. This is particularly true of immigrants from Africa - among this group, 17.3% of men were unemployed and 25.8% of women, according to the 2001 census (Censo de Población del 2001), and the figures were higher according to the Survey of the Active Population (Encuesta de Población Activa) for the same year.

Some studies (eg '¿En España es diferente?. Mujeres inmigrantes dominicanas y marroquíes', C Gregorio, Papers nº 60, 2000) claim that the higher participation rates among immigrants from Central or South America are due to the 'social value' attributed to work outside the home. It is reported that for Dominican women work represents a fundamental economic contribution to the maintenance of the home, and that all Dominican immigrants who work send money to their family to pay for their basic needs. The same is said to be true of immigrants from other countries in America and eastern Europe. On the other hand, in Morocco, the African country with the greatest number of immigrants in Spain, work outside the home is reportedly seen as a burden for women, and men are considered to be the 'breadwinners'. This and other cultural and social factors explain the differences in labour market participation rates.

The labour market for immigrant women

In Spain, a large proportion of female immigrants are employed in domestic service. As in many other countries, the urban middle class are increasingly demanding such services. Spanish families are becoming employers of immigrants, and particularly of women because of the type of services they require. Thus, the access to work of women immigrants is channelled towards the 'secondary segment' of the labour market, towards activities with little prestige that are considered to be 'women's work'- these are 'proximity services' linked to the maintenance of the home and of the family (cleaning, cooking, care of the elderly or children etc).

The figures confirm the concentration of immigrant women in activities of this type. A recent study from the Economic and Social Council (Consejo Económico y Social, CES) (La inmigración y el mercado de trabajo en España, CES , Madrid, 2004) finds that the vast majority of immigrant women work in services - this was the case for more than 86% of the women immigrants who contributed to social security in 2002. According to the Census of Population and Dwellings (Censo de Población y Viviendas), more than 50% of the immigrant women who worked in 2001 were employed in housework (35.5%) or in hotels and catering (15.6%), followed by retail (9.8%).

Over 39% of female immigrants from Central and South America work in domestic service, partly because the shared language allows them to integrate more easily. When they are employed full time in the home of the employer they may obtain additional benefits such as room and board, but this is often in exchange for very long working days and a lack of freedom and privacy. Their precarious working conditions are aggravated by their lack of bargaining power, according to commentators. Trade unions consider that this situation promotes a worsening of the working conditions of workers in general, as argued for example by the Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions (Comisiones Obreras, CC.OO) (Trabajadores extranjeros y acción sindical, CC.OO, Secretaría Migraciones y Política Sectorial, Madrid, 2004).

This tendency had already been identified in a 2000 report from the General Workers’ Confederation (Unión General de Trabajadores, UGT) (Mujeres inmigrantes: factores de exclusión e inserción en una sociedad multiétnica. La situación en España, UGT, Departamento Confederal de la Mujer, Madrid, 2000). This study found that when immigrant women find work it is in devalued sectors such as domestic service offering unskilled jobs with little social status, little social protection and low pay. A high percentage of the work in this sector is informal, because many of the workers are illegal residents in Spain. The same report states that work in domestic service is regulated by a special system that is less beneficial to the workers than the general social security system, thus leading to a greater degree of precariousness. The same is true of agriculture, which employs 5.6% of immigrant women and, as the study reports in the case of Moroccan women, the working conditions in this sector are extremely unstable.

Levels of education and integration in employment

Immigrant women obtain jobs mainly in the 'secondary segment' of the labour market. This is generally regardless of their level of education, which means that the work they do is often not in line with their employment possibilities.

The level of education among immigrant women differs according to their country of origin, but in general it is increasing. A high proportion of immigrant women from Central and South America (and an even higher proportion of non-EU European women) have a secondary education and or even a higher education, as reported by the abovementioned studies for women from Ecuador (UGT 2000), the Dominican Republic (CES 2004) and Peru (Gregorio 2000). These women often had a good position in their country of origin, but this has deteriorated in recent years due to economic difficulties in these countries. A majority of the immigrant women from these countries are 20 to 35 years of age and well educated, but in Spain they are forced to work in domestic service, which they may find frustrating, bearing in mind their labour expectations.

On the other hand, the majority of women from Morocco are 30 to 45 years of age, because many of them emigrate for reasons of family reunification. Their average level of education is far lower than those of Spanish women and women from Central and South America, and their participation rate is also far lower. However, when they do work it is in jobs similar to those of the other groups.

Vocational training might serve to achieve a more suitable integration of immigrant women in employment, particularly those with higher levels of education. However, the working hours that many of them must do in domestic service, and particularly the difficulty of gaining access to the necessary information, mean that few immigrant women receive training. It is therefore very difficult to combat their lowly position in the labour market and allow them to obtain jobs of greater quality, according to commentators.

Commentary

The integration of women in employment is a key factor in the social integration of the immigrant population. In Spain, the number of immigrant women has risen sharply in recent years, partly due to the supply of jobs in female-dominated sectors with little prestige and recognition, in which the workers have little capacity for bargaining over their working conditions.

The unstable employment that most immigrant women experience in the secondary segment of the labour market is often aggravated by the fact that they work in the clandestine economy (ES0406209T). Those that do have an employment contract are often forced to accept poor working conditions, because their residence permit may depend on keeping the job. Due to their lack of bargaining capacity, the great majority are on temporary contracts. This only changes slightly among immigrants who have been in Spain longer, such as some Peruvian women.

For immigrant women with a secondary or higher education, integration in employment in these conditions involves downward mobility from the jobs that they could have had in their countries of origin. This also affects their family life: the jobs allow them to send money home to their families, but rarely allow them to bring their children, who remain in the country of origin.

Fostering training for the employment of immigrant women is important in order to improve their prospects on the labour market. Reforms offering a greater duration of the residence permit than the authorisation to work would give immigrants in general, and women in particular, greater bargaining capacity with regard to their working conditions. (Andreu Lope, QUIT- UAB)