The adoption of the state of alarm on 14 March 2020, in the context of the measures taken to combat the covid-19 pandemic, had a direct effect on labour activity in Spain. Between the first and second quarters of 2020, just over a million people lost their job. The employed population included all those affected by a collective dismissal, provided that reinstatement at the end of the suspension period was guaranteed. However, the slump in employment occurred basically at the expense of swelling the economically inactive population, rather than the unemployed. As a result, in the same period, the unemployment rate rose much less than expected. This anomaly is explained by a sharp increase in the number of people who, while in a situation of unemployment and available for work (both of which are required criteria in order to belong to the group of the unemployed, according to the ILO), ceased to actively seek work (the third required criterion to be considered as such). As they no longer met one of the three conditions to form part of the group of the unemployed, many of those who lost their job came to be classified as inactive during the covid-19 crisis.

As in earlier economic crises, job destruction during the crisis caused by the covid-19 pandemic is not affecting all population groups equally. Those born abroad constitute one of the groups most exposed to unemployment both in Spain and in other OECD countries. The figures show how the risk of being unemployed in Spain has always been greater for immigrants than for natives, but the gap widens in times when employment drops. As happened at the onset of the Great Recession of 2008, the outbreak of covid-19 has brought a widespread increase in the probability of being unemployed, but this probability has grown more among those born abroad. Whereas in the last quarter of 2019 the difference between the two groups stood at 6.7 percentage points, by the last quarter of 2020 it had increased to 10 points.

The data enables different scenarios to be identified according to gender. Among men, the gap widened to 8 percentage points in 2020, but inequality did not reach the highest level recorded during the Great Recession (13.8 points in 2011 and 2012). Among women, on the other hand, in the same year inequality increased to 10.7 percentage points, slightly higher than the figure reached in 2011 (10.3 points). It should be stressed that in the years of economic recovery inequality fell very slowly, to the extent that in the year before the pandemic the gap between immigrants and natives was still much wider than in 2007, especially among women.

Although the covid-19 crisis has caused an increase in inequality between immigrants and natives in terms of unemployment, from the onset of the pandemic the impact has not been as great as was experienced during the worst years of the Great Recession. Specifically, the widest gap between immigrant and native men occurred in 2008 and 2009, with an increase of more than 80% over the year before. In 2020, inequality within the male group grew by 42.4%. In the case of women, again the increase in inequality in 2020 was not as great as at the peak of the Great Recession (48.8% in 2009), but it came very close to it (41.5%) and exceeded the rest of the years of the 2008 crisis, in which the gap also grew.

After two decades of migratory flows, the immigrant population currently residing in Spain is more settled than that which faced the Great Recession of 2008. According to the specialised literature, as the years pass and new generations arrive, immigrants acquire resources specific to the host country (human capital, social networks, a better understanding of the job market, etc.), which enables them to converge in labour terms with the native population.

Notwithstanding the above, the differences between the gross inequality found in 2020 and 2008 are only partly explained by the variation in the time of residence of the immigrant population in Spain. After controlling for age, educational level and the presence of children in the household, the gap between those born abroad and natives narrows –especially during the 2008 crisis– on taking into account potential years in the Spanish labour market, an indicator that serves as a proxy for years of residence. However, this factor is insufficient to explain why during the covid-19 crisis gross inequality is less than during the Great Recession among men, and very similar in the case of women.

There are other specific factors of the immigrant population that are connected to their degree of settlement in Spain. In order to study the effect of these factors on labour integration, it is necessary to analyse inequality among the immigrants themselves. Taking into account age when emigration occurred, years of residence in Spain, nationality and country of birth of partner, the gap in unemployment terms between immigrants from the EU-15 (a group with very similar employment outcomes to those of the natives) and so-called economic immigrants (from countries with significantly lower levels of income than those of the host country) shows reductions throughout the period.

Nevertheless, inequality between these two groups continues to differ when 2020 is compared with the Great Recession. In other words, the above factors are also insufficient to explain why gross inequality during the covid-19 crisis is lower than that registered during the 2008 crisis.

The data reported in the study on which this article is based suggests that the type of job has a decisive influence on the probability of becoming unemployed. After employment rate, sector of activity and type of contract are controlled for, the initial differences between immigrants and natives are seen to be considerably reduced throughout the period analysed. Within the male group, job characteristics are still insufficient to explain the lower inequality in 2020 in comparison with the years of the Great Recession. However, among women, the position occupied in the labour market accounts for practically all the absolute differences detected.

After two decades of immigration in Spain it is found that, under equal conditions, the population originating from abroad continues to be overrepresented in the secondary segment of the labour market, i.e., the most precarious and least skilled jobs with the poorest prospects. The greater presence of immigrant workers in less regulated sectors and occupations in which temporary jobs are more frequent will have prevented many of them from being able to receive benefit due to temporary dismissal during the crisis caused by covid-19.

After two decades of consolidation in Spain, the immigrant population continues to be more exposed to unemployment, especially in periods when employment rates plunge. The results indicate that the impact of the covid-19 crisis on equality has been negative, although so far not as large as during the worst years of the Great Recession, especially among men. The settlement of the immigrant population in Spain is accompanied by a more limited labour protection than expected. The vulnerability of the population born abroad is still closely associated with their greater presence in more precarious, less skilled jobs in sectors that are highly sensitive to the economic cycle. Although various studies in this field suggest that the arrival of the second generation of immigrants can break this dynamic, this group is as yet a minority within the economically active population with a foreign background.

The comparison between the Great Recession and the current crisis caused by the pandemic was carried out using the available data from the EPA up to and including the fourth quarter of 2020, at which time the research on which this article is based was concluded. In order to gain insight into the overall impact of the covid-19 crisis in comparison with that of 2008 it will be necessary to wait until the pandemic ends and the economic cycle enters a positive phase.

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