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Something quietly significant has been happening in Murcia's economy. The number of self-employed workers registered in the region has grown by 2,667 between July 2022 and July 2026, and of those new registrations, 2,234, or 83.8%, have been foreign nationals. In other words, more than eight in every ten new self-employed workers in the region over the past four years have come from outside Spain.

 

The raw numbers tell the story clearly. Foreign self-employed workers in Murcia rose from 9,700 in July 2022 to 11,934 in July 2026, a 23% increase. Spanish nationals registered as self-employed, by contrast, grew from 93,468 to just 93,901, an increase of barely 0.5% over the same period.

 

It's a picture that adds complexity to the broader debate about foreign workers in the region. While data published earlier this year showed that foreign workers in Murcia earn on average around €8,500 less than their Spanish counterparts, the self-employment figures paint a rather different dimension of the same story: foreign nationals are not simply filling employed roles, they are actively setting up businesses.

 

Eduardo Abad, president of the self-employed workers' association UPTA Spain, is direct about what the data means. "Of the 2,667 self-employed workers we have gained since 2022, more than 2,200 are foreign workers. We are talking about practically 84% of the net growth of the RETA being based on their incorporation, while the number of Spanish self-employed workers has barely changed in four years."

 

He is equally clear that this represents an opportunity, not just a statistic. "They are not coming to replace economic activity, but to create it and, in many cases, to give it continuity. We must take advantage of this reality and connect those who want to start businesses with shops, establishments, and small businesses that will need successors in the coming years."

 

That last point is particularly relevant given the challenge of generational succession in small retail, hospitality and local services, where many owners are approaching retirement with no obvious successor in sight. Foreign entrepreneurs are increasingly filling that gap, and UPTA is calling for better support structures, easier access to financing and reduced administrative barriers to help them do so more effectively.

 

 

 

Image: Vitaly Gariev/Unsplash