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Ecuador to Spain
As part of a labour migration agreement signed between the Governments of Ecuador and Spain in 2001, IOM assisted the first group of 36 persons selected to work in the hospitality sector to travel to Madrid on 16 October 2002.
By mid-November, 288 Ecuadorians had travelled to Spain under the labour migration scheme. The rest of the 640 workers selected will depart for Spain in January 2003.
A Spanish delegation selected the candidates based on their skills and experience from the IOM-managed database, which at the end of October 2002 contained some 18,000 files.
All selected labour migrants were given legal contracts, and are entitled to social security and other benefits provided for under Spanish legislation.
The Process
The IOM office in Quito began accepting applications in March 2002. A survey of the first 500 names in the IOM database showed that the vast majority of those registered wanted to work in three main categories: agriculture, construction and domestic service. All applicants were between 15 and 40 years of age and the majority were male.
Meanwhile, Spanish entrepreneurs registered their labour needs with the Spanish Embassy in Quito. Once jobs were identified in the Spanish labour market, job offers were transmitted to the Government of Ecuador through the Spanish Embassy in Quito.
In mid-September officials of the Spanish Ministry of Labour and private employers arrived in Quito to worik with IOM on thc selection process. After the candidates were chosen, IOM worked on the drafting of the contracts, securing visas, passports and the airline tickets for the journey to Spain.
IOM's Augusto Mariategui hailed the agreement as a serious commitment from a European country to accept labour migrants in a legal and dignified way. "Labour migration agreements favour the sending and the receiving country, and of course the migrants. This programme shows that it is possible to find legal and coordinated ways to manage labour migration. Other countries should follow this example."
Economics and Migration
For Latin America, the 80s were considered a lost decade for economic growth. But the 90s were also considered a lost decade for Ecuador. Between 1998 and 1999 the economy stagnated, resulting in zero economic growth. In 1999 unemployment soared to an all time high of 14.4%. Unemployment and economic uncertainty drove more than 350,000 persons to flee the country in search of work. This represented 10% the workforce.
Although official unemployment has decreased to 8.4%, underemployment is on the rise, as well as the number of persons working in the informal sector. Experts are attributing this to a moderate economic recovery and to the large numbers of working-age people who have left the country. Of the 18,000 persons in the IOM database, almost 75% are employed. But the low wages are driving people to seek employment abroad.
IOM Quito