Overview
- The note urges governments to temper overall inflows and focus admissions on higher‑skill profiles aligned with labor needs and administrative capacity.
- They acknowledge foreign labor has driven recent GDP and job growth, yet say the prevalence of low‑qualification roles has muted gains in income per capita and entrenched a low‑productivity model.
- The Cercle proposes overhauling legal pathways by reforming the arraigo route, easing employer recruitment abroad, and adopting Canadian or Australian‑style skilled‑visa systems.
- The group supports the government’s extraordinary regularization as necessary but labels it proof of the lack of a coherent migration policy, with coverage citing up to about 800,000 potential beneficiaries.
- It highlights Catalonia’s rapid rise from roughly 6 million to about 8.1 million residents as a source of pressure on housing and core services, and backs devolving some migration management to the Generalitat with funding and alignment with state and EU rules.