Moroccan Workers Become Largest Foreign Labor Force in Spain

Fatima Kahoul Elhais joined Spain with her mother and siblings in 2003. "My father settled here earlier, in the 1990s," the 31-year-old woman residing in Palencia tells El Pais. Like her, many Moroccans have chosen to emigrate to Spain to build a better future. Over the years, their number has grown considerably, to the point that they have become the main foreign workforce in the country, surpassing Romanians who had occupied the first place since 2012. Some 343,188 Moroccan workers are affiliated with Social Security at the end of January 2025, 24,400 more than in January 2024, 90,200 more than in 2019 and 158,500 more than ten years ago. After Moroccans and Romanians (329,809), come Colombians (217,070), Italians (189,975) and Venezuelans (176,333).

The reasons for this massive immigration of Moroccans to Spain are economic: "They come to Spain to improve their situation and that of their family," explains Ahmed Khalifa, president of the Moroccan Association for the Integration of Immigrants. The official deplores the sectoral categorization of the Moroccan community. "There are specific sectors in which we imagine that a Moroccan worker must be found. And these are jobs with hard, very precarious conditions. These are sectors reserved for immigrants. 33% of Moroccans affiliated with social security are employed in agriculture, livestock and fishing, one of the lowest paid sectors of the economy (1,562 euros gross, compared to 2,273 on average). To put these figures into context, it should be noted that on average, only 5% of the total number of affiliates work in the countryside."

Moroccans are also more numerous in domestic work, hotels and construction, while they are almost non-existent in banks, media and schools," denounces Fatima Kahoul Elhais. "The countryside is always very hard. Here, you have to endure the heat, the rain, everything that comes," explains Elwali Bocharga, 33. Most Moroccan workers in the fields are exploited, "earning 15 or 20 euros a day. We cannot allow this," fumes Mohammed Alami, president of the Association of Friends of the Moroccan People (ITRAN). Anas Khouader, 27, for his part, underlines the difficulty for Moroccan graduates to find a job in Spain. "I studied in a Spanish school in Morocco and I have a degree in professional relations from the University of Granada, but I can’t find a job in my field," laments this resident of Granada. "We want to work, like everyone else."

Moroccans form the largest foreign community in Spain. According to INE data, the country had 111,043 Moroccans in 1998, ahead of the British (75,600) and the Germans (60,495). In 2022, they remain at the top of the ranking with 883,243 residents, according to the latest INE data. "Many Moroccans take care of the elderly and are not registered with social security, but they do not report it so as not to lose their jobs. They suffer from racism in the workplace