The Portuguese government presented a new immigration plan aimed at ending the special regime for non-European migrants on Monday, at a time when the country’s aging population and lack of skilled labor are forcing it to call on ever more foreign workers.
By the end of 2023, the number of foreign workers registered as employees in Portugal had risen to 495,000, an increase of 35.5% on the previous year and nine times higher than at the start of the decade. These are the conclusions of a study by the Bank of Portugal (BdP) published this Monday.
In fact, in 2014, only 7.9% of companies based in Portugal employed workers of foreign nationality. Ten years later, this percentage has risen to 22.2%, or more than a fifth of companies.
According to the BdP, this meteoric rise results from a shrinking working-age population and a lack of manpower in specific sectors. These factors have “reinforced the need for Portuguese companies to hire foreign workers.”
“The main reason why Portugal has seen an increase in the number of immigrants is because it needs them,” Luis Goes Pinheiro, Director of the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), told France 24 last February, pointing out that the country has the most aging population in Europe after Italy.
“The share of foreign workers in the total number of employees is higher in municipalities with significant agricultural activity, particularly in the south of the country,” reads the BoP report. In fact, it is in the agriculture and fishing sector that they have the greatest weight: four out of ten workers are foreigners, twice as many as in 2019, before the pandemic. Next come accommodation and catering (31.1%), administrative activities (28.1%) and construction (23.2%).
The breakdown of foreign workers by nationality reveals a predominance of Brazilian workers across almost all sectors. Last year, over 209,000 Brazilians were registered with the social security system, making up 42.3% of the total. They were followed by workers from four other nationalities: Indians (41,000), Nepalese (26,900), Cape Verdeans (22,700), and Bengalis (18,800).
Foreigners earn less, but are more qualified
The Bank of Portugal also highlights the difference in salaries between foreigners and Portuguese last year, and by age bracket. Foreigners under 35 earned on average slightly more than the minimum wage (769 euros versus 760 euros for the national minimum wage) and 133 euros (145 dollars) less than Portuguese workers of the same age. Non-Portuguese workers over 35 earned 781 euros, 164 euros less than Portuguese workers.
The wage disparity is also visible from one sector to another. Last year, immigrants registered with the social security system earned less on average than Portuguese workers in nearly all sectors. The only exception was in the information and communication sector, where immigrants, particularly those of European nationality (who represent 12.6% of all foreign workers), constitute a significant portion of the workforce (over 30%).
Despite this, the figures show that immigrants registered in 2021 were more highly qualified than the Portuguese, “although the gap has narrowed over the last decade,” points out the study’s rapporteur.
Among the Portuguese population, the proportion of employees aged 20 to 64 with secondary or higher education increased from 44.7% in 2011 to 60.5% in 2021. Similarly, the proportion of foreign workers with these qualifications also rose, from 53% in 2011 to 67% in 2021.
“The distribution of academic qualifications among foreign workers is relatively stable across age groups. On the other hand, among Portuguese nationals, there are more young skilled employees than older skilled workers,” he points out.
A reform of the immigration plan criticized by both the left and far-right
While the BdP presented the results of its study on Monday, at the same time the Portuguese government unveiled a new immigration plan aimed at ending the regime that allowed non-European migrants to settle in Portugal without a work contract and apply for residency after paying one year’s social security.
The revocation of the special regime means that migrants will need to have an employment contract before they can settle in the country. Priority will be given to the entry of qualified professionals, students, people from Portuguese-speaking countries, and people wishing to reunite with their families. The government has not, however, provided any details on the type of qualifications it is referring to.
“Portugal will not close its doors to those seeking opportunity,” declared Prime Minister Luís Monténégro at the presentation, “but we cannot go to the other extreme and leave our doors wide open.”
The government’s new immigration plan was sharply criticized by opposition parties, who spoke out in the media. Pedro Nuno Santos, leader of Portugal’s Socialist Party (PS), described the plan as “vague” and said it could create a “legal vacuum,” making it even more difficult to legalize immigrants already living in Portugal.
The leader of the far-right Chega party, André Ventura, believes that the government’s measures do not go far enough, calling the plan “weak, ill-conceived and ineffective.”
The left-wing Bloco de Esquerda (BE) believes that abolishing the special regime will only lead to more illegal immigration. “We fear that this project will exacerbate the problem, because eliminating one of the means of legalizing the migrants who come here will lead to more illegal immigration,” said BE coordinator Mariana Mortágua.
