5 Largest Economies in Europe

4. Spain

5Y avg GDP (2017-2021): $1366.7 billion

5Y avg GDP growth rate (2017-2021): 0.33%

To combat labor shortages, the Spanish govt introduced new regulations at the end of 2022. Foreign workers will be allowed to work on the jobs which are low in demand in Spain. Students will be allowed to work more than 20 hrs per week. Additionally, students who have completed their studies can have an extended 12 months to look for work while staying in the country. Seasonal workers will be given a four-year permit by the government to work for up to nine months each year. Furthermore, as part of the new Startup Act, which is expected to be passed in January 2023, Spain intends to introduce its Digital Nomad visa for foreign remote employees. 

In December of last year, the Social Security of Spain recorded 2,500,677 international individuals, which indicates that there are 14,780 more foreign employees working in Spain than in November, bringing this group to 194,013 throughout the year 2022. According to SchengenVisaInfo.com, the system saw an increase of more than 311,256 foreign employees from February 2020 to that date. These figures reveal that, in seasonally adjusted terms, this amount constituted 12.3% of all Social Security subsidiaries in December.

In contrast to the previous month’s decline of 2.2 USD billion, Spain’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) climbed by 1.4 USD billion in October 2022. Considering the largest companies in the country, Inditex secured 1st place with a $96.04 billion market cap followed by Iberdrola with a market capitalization of $71.69 billion.