Social Inequalities of Cross-Border Workers: The Spanish Case

The Spanish border with Morocco in the Ceuta and Melilla territories has the greatest economic differential of all borders between countries in the world. The extreme wage inequality creates tremendous pressure on the labor market and situations of social dumping.

The problem of cross-border workers in Ceuta and Melilla is affected by two circumstances: on the one hand, an important differential income ($27,522 versus $4,956); on the other hand, the fact that Morocco does not acknowledge these territories as Spanish. The number of legally recognized cross-border workers amounts to 2,093, but the number of illegal immigrants could triple that figure.

Cross-border workers from Morocco suffer severe inequality in relation to other immigrant workers because of their non-resident status, which prevents them from receiving certain social benefits such as health care for their families or the right to education for their children. From the fiscal perspective, they are subjected to unusually high tax burdens. What is more, they cannot benefit from employment promotion policies undertaken by the Spanish authorities.

Obviously, the border problems can only be definitively resolved by the development of the less prosperous neighbor, so as to reduce the economic differential. Nevertheless, an agreement on cross-border cooperation could provide a provisional solution for inequalities in the treatment of cross-border workers in relation to other foreign workers living in Spain.