THE Spanish labour market lost 308,000 foreign workers in four years, according to a survey by the recruitment company Randstad.
According to official figures there are 1.5 million foreign workers employed in Spain, nine percent of the total workforce. Of these almost 50 percent are from European Union countries.
But the report highlights the fact that over recent years there has been a substantial reduction in the number of foreign workers as a direct result of the recession.
Many non-Spaniards have been forced to return to their country of origin as a result of a lack of job opportunities.
Spain has one of the highest rates of unemployment of any European Union country with 4.5 million people without a job.
Foreign workers leave Spain in large numbers, says report