Exploitation and socio-labor insecurity, the reality of migrant agricultural workers in Spain

Abstract

Seasonal agricultural work in Spain is characterized by great physical exhaustion, a low qualification requirement and precarious working conditions. These elements have caused the natives to gradually abandon this labor niche to be replaced by international migrants from a wide variety of origins. Another peculiarity of this labor market is the short duration of the jobs as they are linked to the harvest seasons of the agricultural product. Thus, throughout the year, different campaigns that attract thousands of people in search of work, from the harvest of red fruit in Huelva to the harvest of sweet fruit in Lleida during the summer, including intensive agriculture of longer duration such as Murcian and Almerian horticulture.