The underground economy both in Spain and Catalonia is around 15% of GDP according to studies that use a report from the European Parliament as a reference. The European document places the European Union average at 17.3%. These figures show that the Catalan region presents a slightly better scenario than the continental average, although important structural challenges persist.
Labor regularization generates union expectations
The Spanish Government has launched an immigration regularization that has generated expectations of improvement in the labor situation for the affected group. The UGT and CCOO unions encourage workers with regularized status to report employers who continue to employ without a contract. Òscar Riu, secretary of Union Policy of UGT in Catalonia, explains that his union calls on workers who will likely change jobs to report if their former employer continues to hire irregularly.
"I have worked exploited, with promises of a contract that were not fulfilled later", Mari
Riu states that whoever does not comply with the law must be prosecuted and indicates that they expect workers who from now on will have labor rights to help those who do not. He also asks for more resources and more inspection from both Labor and Treasury to prevent fraud. He maintains that a change of mentality is very necessary for many employers.
Most Affected Sectors and Regional Projections
The unions point to care services, hospitality, and domestic cleaning as the most affected sectors. Albert Ferrer, head of Labor Market and Economy at CCOO, states that it is estimated that 40% of people working in the care sector do so in an unregulated manner. It is calculated that around 90,000 people work in this field and there are about 40,000 people who could potentially be regularized in this sector alone.
- Care attention
- Restoration
- Home cleaning
There is no official data on the weight of the underground economy, but there are estimates based on reports and studies. One of the most cited is a report by the European Parliament from 2022 which places the informal economy in Spain at 15.8% of GDP. This percentage has progressively decreased from the 22.2% estimated for 2003. The Spanish Government has set the objective of reducing the level to 15% by the year 2030 and lowering it to 12% by 2040 and 10% by 2050.
In Catalonia, a cited estimate is a study from the University of Murcia from 2024 that takes the 15.8% of the European Parliament as a state reference. The cited study estimates that the shadow economy in Catalonia was 14.4% of GDP in 2022. The same study indicates that this percentage fell from 19% in 2004. According to the cited study, Catalonia is the third autonomous community with the least shadow economy. The most developed regions are where there is less shadow economy, following the line of the European Union.
Liliana Reyes, secretary of Barcelona and Immigration of Comisiones Obreras in Catalonia, states that she expects a positive change. She highlights that this will allow the underground economy to emerge in those sectors that are more precarious and with more workers of migrant origin.