Javier Moreno Fuentes (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid)

“Immigrant populations and the economic crisis in Spain. The role of the Welfare State”

Abstract

The economic crisis severely deteriorated the socio-economic situation of immigrant populations in Spain over the last years. Often pushed to the margins of the labor market, they survive with informal jobs in the underground economy and with a precarious access to social protection schemes. This paper aims at analyzing the way in which the crisis has affected the social rights of populations of migrant origin in Spain. By using the most recent available data on the matter, the paper analysis the role of these groups in four key areas of the Spanish Welfare system: Social Security, Social services, housing and healthcare. The increasing vulnerability of these populations poses a serious challenge to the Spanish Welfare system and, with it, to the whole of Spanish society.