Immigrants leave Spain as economic crisis hits hard
The number of immigrants returning home from Spain is increasing rapidly as the economic slowdown takes effect and unemployment rises.

By Fiona Govan in Madrid
Last Updated: 2:45PM BST 07 Aug 2008

The Socialist government, which subsidises travel for immigrants who want to leave Spain but do not have the money to do so, reported receiving 2,100 requests for aid so far this year. This is almost double the figure for the whole of last year and funding for the scheme has run dry.

"We have already spent our budget due to the surge in requests during the economic crisis," said a spokesman for the Spanish Department for immigration.

Under the scheme, each immigrant is given between 50 and 400 euros for the journey home, plus a one-off payment of between 400 to 1400 euros per family.

It is designed to encourage immigrants to leave Spain rather than join the ranks of the unemployed which reached a 10-year high of 2.43 million in June.

A separate programme which pays jobless immigrants the equivalent of two years unemployment benefit if they go home, is expected to attract more than 100,000 applicants when it is introduced next month.

A total of 457,000 workers have lost their jobs over the past 12 months, giving Spain the highest unemployment rate in the European Union. This has coincided with the end of the country's housing boom, the global credit crisis and an inflation rate which is now at a 13-year high.

The immigrant workforce has been the hardest hit by the deepening economic crisis, as building firms go bankrupt and companies and households cut back on staff.

Unemployment among immigrants has risen 69 per cent in the last year, three times that of the rest of the wider workforce.

Spain has an estimated 5 million immigrants, about 11 per cent of the population. Latin Americans and those from Eastern Europe are reportedly leaving in the greatest numbers.
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