Tuesday, 1 July 2025, 13:54
The name her parents gave her is a secret she has kept for many years. “We all call her ‘Nube’ [Cloud],” says an elderly woman as she leaves the shop that this Chinese national has been running for more than five years. A few metres away, the hairdresser’s that closed after the pandemic shutdown now sports a new sign as a barber’s for male clients only. Old Carlos is no longer there – the new business is run by Omar.
These are just two examples of the nearly half a million self-employed (‘autónomos’) foreigners (484,062) currently working in Spain, a record number according to data up to the end of May published by the Ministry of Social Security. In reality, the entrepreneurial flair of immigrants – sometimes largely due to necessity – has been the driving force behind the growth of this group over the last four years to the point where last May, 17 years later, it once again surpassed the 3.4 million registered workers mark. Moreover, virtually all the growth experienced since 2021 by RETA (Spain’s special regime for self-employed workers) has been thanks to foreigners: of the 108,155 new self-employed, 104,338 are foreign entrepreneurs, according to a recent ATA report (the national federation of associations of self-employed workers).
The increasing number of foreign entrepreneurs is also changing the landscape of the group in Spain. For the first time, nearly 15% of self-employed workers (14.18%) are foreigners, a percentage that has increased by 85% in the last decade, while nationals have been declining (6 percentage points less). “This isn’t just any old statistic, it’s a reality that demonstrates the vitality and dynamism they bring to the Spanish productive fabric”, said Lorenzo Amor, ATA president.
67,959
Chinese nationals
are registered as self-employed on Spain’s Social Security books
As a result, many business premises in Spanish towns and cities are no longer run by the same old locals. Other accents and even other languages can be heard in them. While Spanish remains the majority nationality in the RETA, the Chinese are gaining ground, with 67,959 affiliates, along with Romanian workers (51,201), Italians (42,670) and then Moroccans, who total 30,083 sign-ups to the Social Security system.
All sectors have taken on self-employed workers from overseas in the last four years. In contrast, in the case of the self-employed nationals, there have been significant declines in some sectors. “They are helping to offset the declines in traditional sectors such as retail and agriculture, and they are driving growth,” said Amor.
The Chinese transformation
Since the late 1990s, foreign entrepreneurship has been represented by Chinese bazaars and their model of proximity trading (being ‘local’). However, in recent years, this model – especially that of the Chinese community – has undergone a significant business transformation. In recent weeks, social media has been filled with numerous videos asking the same question: “What’s happening with the Chinese bazaars?” Commenters’ theories point to a new pandemic and, some, even to another world war. Still, the answer lies in changes in Spanish consumer habits.
Consumers no longer head to these stores as often as before to buy knives, plates, folders, pens, candles or even curtains. These purchases are now made through other ‘Chinese’ digital platforms such as Aliexpress or Temu. This has led to a reinvention by many Chinese entrepreneurs, who are gradually abandoning the retail trade to engage in other economic activities, as reflected in Social Security data in Spain.
In the last four years, the number of Chinese retail workers has gone from growing by 3.18% on average before the pandemic to 1.67% in the years after Covid. Furthermore, this has not been the only transformation as the restaurant industry of Chinese wok buffets is no longer as profitable.
Many Chinese autónomos have opted for new sectors such as beauty and nail salons, where there has been a 9% growth in the number of affiliates. This shift demonstrates a clear adaptation to the market and an economic diversification that reflects not only a change in business strategy, but also an evolution in the presence of the Chinese community in the Spanish commercial fabric. Chinese entrepreneurship is not retreating: it is simply adapting.