Since 2000 the number of foreigners living in Catalonia has apparently risen by 922,200, from 2.9% to 15% of the total population. Roughly 25% are from the EU with another 4% from the rest of Europe, 25% are from Africa, 35% from Central and South America, and 9% from Asia. Spain’s construction boom was based on cheap, unskilled foreign labour, and if there is to be no more construction then it is very difficult to imagine what other legitimate employment will be available in the region for several hundred thousand strong young men with only basic education and little or no knowledge of the only de facto official language. Populist hatemongers may be rubbing their hands, but it is easy to imagine that the rest of us will have cause to wring them.

Tags: Catalonia, employment, immigration, Spain
Categories: Buildings, Empires, rulers and warfare, Les bourgeois

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1. Tom
   February 12th 2009 15:46

   “…what other legitimate employment will be available in the region for several hundred thousand strong young men with only basic education and little or no knowledge of the only de facto official language”

   I’m not that young any more. I’ll be 29 this year.

2. Trevor
   February 12th 2009 17:18

   Oh dear, I do hope you’re not implying that you’ve joined the queues. Everyone I know seems to be being made redundant, except for those who should never have been given a job in the first place. Many of them seem to intend to come to Barcelona to spend some of their cash, and I’m hoping at least some of them will come on this.

3. Tom
   February 13th 2009 11:33

   I don’t do Facebook any more. But I believe that you’re referring to the Sueca fair… what time is it?

   And no, I’m not a queuer. I’m fortunate to be working for a Spanish company that (a) internationalised at the right time (b) is in a sector that shouldn’t take too big a hit and (c) doesn’t depend on one business line.

4. kalebeul » Blog Archive » Spiderman thief at work in Barcelona
   April 10th 2009 12:16

   [...] Video here (referring page), and a matchstick maid from Telecinco is going door-to-door, says SC. The lady interviewed is on the red ochre terrace just below A on the map, looking NW and then down Sors. B says that there’s been a sharp rise in burglary reports coming into his station, and, while this guy looks Spanish, a substantial proportion is probably providing the answer to the question of occupation posed here. [...]