Christians Under Attack

more than one million unemployed persons of foreign origins registered as living is Spain at the end of 2009, around 350,000 are of Moroccan nationality. This is 42.4% of the community of 775,054 immigrants from Morocco with residence permits. These figures come from the 4th survey of immigration and the job market, which has been issued by the Ministry of Labour and Immigration and is quoted in today's edition of the daily ABC.

While the unemployment rate among the immigrant Moroccan population stood at 16.2% at the end of 2006, four years later this figure is touching on 42.4%. The rise in the number of jobless, the report says, is due to the fact that Moroccan workers are more closely tied to the construction sector, which has been hit particularly hard by the recession - a fate also affecting Romanian, Bolivian and Columbian workers. Nevertheless, in unemployment grew during 2009 mainly among Ukrainians, Argentineans, Peruvians, workers from the Dominican Republic and Chinese, as these workers are more closely linked to service industries. But the worst affected by the recession in 2009 were the Ecuadorians, given that one quarter of the more than 100,000 employees of this nationality are now unemployed.

The report highlights various trends, including the trough in legal immigration and the loss of one and a half million contributors to the national insurance scheme, including those of Spanish and foreign origins. The figures do not show any growth in black-economy work, nor has there been any increase in the number of immigrants working off the books.

Foreign-born workers are more willing to move in search of work - three times as much as Spanish workers, with the Chinese, Columbians and Moroccans especially willing to move, not just across Spain's various regions but also to other European countries. Be that as it may, the majority of immigrants have decided to stay put in Spain, despite the recession and shortage of work.

The report stresses how ''there is no mass return'' to countries of origin and overall, especially among the Latin Americans and Rumanians who have obtained Spanish nationality, given that they are free to return to Spain whenever they wish.

The report forecasts a phase of repositioning of the present unemployed, with a limited call for immigrant workers. But once this phase is over, Spain will return to being a country that attracts immigrants. (ANSAmed).