Six months have passed since the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Since then, the influx of Ukrainian citizens to many European countries has increased exponentially due to obvious circumstances. This migratory flow has already stabilized despite the fact that the country is still mired in a war that is not expected to end soon and whose economic effects are weighing down the European economic recovery after the pandemic. More than 200,000 Ukrainian citizens currently reside in our country, twice as many as in February this year.
According to data from the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, led by José Luis Escrivá, Since the start of the war in March, 87,427 Ukrainians have arrived in Spain under the temporary protection mechanism enabled by the European Union, so that refugees of this country can access a visa that allows them to work for one year in European territory. Of these, only 13.7% have found a job with this documentation since March (11,959).
The majority of these refugees, 73.2% of the Ukrainians who have arrived in Spain since March under this protection mechanism, are women. This is because the Ukrainian government recruited older men with the ability to fight in the war against Russia, letting young and old leave the country.
The difficulties of inclusion for Ukrainian citizens who have just arrived in our country, mainly due to differences in language, mean that the 6 out of 10 Ukrainians with higher education who have arrived in our country after the start of the war, encounter complications for work in their sectors. Sources consulted by the Ministry consulted by this means assure that they are doing everything possible to obtain the transfer of information from the Ukrainian universities to validate these degrees in Spain, but many centers are located in cities that are under Russian influence, so the Difficulties in obtaining these validations, as well as the speed of the process, make it difficult for Ukrainians to access jobs for which they are qualified.
In order to try to eliminate the barrier created by the linguistic difference, from the Creade centers (project for integration through education), managed by the Ministry of Migration, classes are given to improve the adaptation of Ukrainian refugees in our country.
Activity sectors
The nearly 12,000 Ukrainians who arrived in our country after the outbreak of the conflict and are working, concentrate their work activity in four sectors: Hospitality, Construction, Administrative Activities and Commerce.
The hospitality sector houses 32% of Ukrainian refugees in labor registration (3,897). This activity is carried out mainly by women between the ages of 20 and 44, mainly. The men who work in this activity are mostly between 16 and 19 years old.
Construction is the second activity in which more refugees are working, 1,429 Ukrainians. In this case, the vast majority are men, only 86 women work in this sector. Men between 25 and 44 years of age concentrate the majority of refugee registrations in this activity.
On the other hand, the presence of Ukrainians who have arrived since March in administrative activities occupies 1,201 people, mostly women. The same as in Commerce, with 1,068 refugees working in the sector.
Ukrainians in employment registered under the EU’s temporary protection mechanism vary, as in sectors, in contractual typology. The figures most used for hiring these have been: the full-time indefinite contract (2,761 Ukrainians), the discontinuous fixed contract (2,757) and the temporary full-time contract (2,223).
General employment situation
In Spain, the number of Ukrainians who can access the labor market has doubled and there are currently 157,594 Ukrainians of working age in our country (from 16 to 65 years of age), of whom 63% are unemployed.
This situation has nothing to do with what existed before the outbreak of the conflict. In February of this year, 84,784 Ukrainians resided in Spain. Of these, 52% contributed to Social Security.
Among the 63% of Ukrainians without work activity (99,840 people), 69% are women. On the other hand, of the 57,754 people registered with Social Security, 58.5% are Ukrainian women. Finally, we observe that 67% of Ukrainian women and 56% of Ukrainian men in Spain do not have any registered work activity.
Aid of 400 euros per month to refugees without means
The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration approved an aid of 400 euros per month, plus 100 euros per dependent minor, for Ukrainians who have obtained temporary protection in the country and do not have sufficient financial means.
This aid, which will be paid for a maximum period of 6 months, is included in the Official State Gazette (BOE) of August 2 and will be paid by the autonomous communities. Sources from the ministry informed elEconomista.es that they have not yet begun to distribute this aid because they continue to explore, together with the regional governments, how to pay it.
Beneficiaries must prove the links with the minors in charge through the resolution by which the temporary protection regime is granted jointly and the joint registration with the minor. And if there is more than one responsible adult, only one will receive that additional amount. These aids will be financed with 52.8 million euros.
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