Spain shuts door on migrant workers

Spain's government has defended a plan to fight soaring unemployment by shutting the door on foreign workers, fending off criticism that the idea is mean-spirited and futile.

Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega defended Spain s migrant worker move Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega defended Spain's migrant worker move

Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said the government had no choice but to respond to the needs of the labour market.

The Socialist government has been under fire from unions, immigrant advocacy groups and opposition parties since the labour minister announced this week the number of work visas granted abroad to people eager to take low-skill jobs in Spain "will get close to zero".

The minister, Celestino Corbacho, said on Wednesday it did not make sense to keep recruiting workers in other countries when Spain has 2.5 million people unemployed, 500,000 more than in August 2007, largely as a result of a collapse in the construction industry.

Corbacho is finalising a separate plan to pay unemployed foreigners to go home - through lump sum payments of their jobless benefits - and stay there for a few years, with the right to come back when things get better.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has prided himself on being immigrant-friendly since taking office in 2004. Zapatero granted amnesty to 600,000 undocumented foreigners in 2005, angering other EU countries which felt this would lure waves of other illegal immigrants who could cross into France and elsewhere in the new border-free Europe.

Spain's population of 45 million is now about 10% immigrant - compared to an insignificant proportion a decade ago - largely from Latin America, North Africa and eastern Europe.

Spain's economy has all but stagnated in less than a year, and gone from being one of the EU's top job-creators to having its highest jobless rate - 10.7%, according to Eurostat, the bloc's statistical agency.

Fernandez de la Vega said hiring workers in their countries of origin has been part of a Spanish policy to regulate immigration and fight illegal entries, and always linked to the needs of the job market.

"The government's goal in its immigration policy has not varied," she told a news conference. "The only thing that has changed is the labour market."

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