Ecuadorian Migrants: High Rate of Unemployment in Spain

Beatriz Tola, head of the National Secretariat for Migrants

Unemployment in Spain affects about 100,000 Ecuadorians, two thirds of whom does not receive any public subsidy, said yesterday in Madrid, the head of the National Secretariat for Migrants (Senami for its Spanish acronym) in Ecuador, Beatriz Tola.

The official, who performed her first official visit to Spain after her recent appointment, noted that unemployment among the Ecuadorian group is 27-28%, “much higher” than the Spanish average, which reaches 20%.

Of these 100,000 people, according to official figures, “approximately 33,000 are receiving some assistance,” such as unemployment benefits granted by the Spanish Government who are unemployed, said the minister, while the rest, about 67,000 people remain without these benefits.