The flexible buffer function of migrant labour can be tested in the case of the recession in construction, during which sector employment fell from 2.8 m to 1.7 m in Spain, and from 2.4 m to 2.1 m in the UK (Table 1). In Spain, the crisis has impacted migrant construction workers more than anybody else. Between 2008 and 2009, total employment in Spain fell by 7% and in construction by 23% (data from LFS). According to the Migration Survey of the Instituto Nzcional de Estadistica (which is carried out simultaneously with the LFS), 14% of foreign workers in the whole economy, and as many as 64% of foreign workers in construction, lost their construction jobs, only 12% had found jobs in other sectors of the Spanish labour market.