Working apart together: The impact of immigration on Spanish class structure

Abstract

In this article, we explore how the massive incorporation of the foreign-born population into the labour market during the economic expansion in Spain and the subsequent destruction of employment in the period of the economic downturn have contributed to changes in Spanish class structure. Drawing on data from the Labour Force Survey we estimate an entropy-based segregation index in order to assess the extent to which the unevenness of the distribution of natives and immigrants within social classes has contributed to the overall demographic composition of social class structure. Our results reveal that in the period of economic expansion the segregation of the class structure increased as a result of the concentration of immigrant population in specific classes. In contrast, during the economic crisis this process has been reversed: the uneven class distribution between natives and immigrants has levelled out and segregation among natives has decreased.