Jose Geovanni never lacked for work in Spain. Nine years ago, the transplanted Ecuadoran carpenter found he was a hot commodity. Spain’s property market was taking off, and Spain needed men to build its skyline.
But Geovanni, 48, now goes weeks without working, though he’s out searching for a job every day. Investors have fled Spain. Work sites are stilled. Geovanni knows many immigrant laborers are scraping by in these hard times. But no way, he said, is he tempted by Spain’s offer to leave with cash.
“They have to be kidding,” he said of the initiative to send people back to their countries of origin with lump sums of unemployment pay. “They aren’t giving us anything. … This is money we already contributed” in pension and tax contributions from paychecks.
Returning to Ecuador — which is economically unstable — is not a choice, he said.
Still, Geovanni considers Spain a lifeline. His wife works as a cleaner. Their four children, ages 11 to 18, flourish in public school. All are residents and, as of last year, hold dual citizenship with pension and health care. In good times, the family wires about $275 every month to family in Ecuador.
Geovanni sees the government’s immigration initiative as a mistake, but he remains grateful to Spain. “I don’t have much,” he said. “I can’t give my children luxuries. But Spain has allowed me to give them a chance.”