We test whether the impact of immigration on native workers differs depending on the business cycle. We divide the Spanish Labour Force Survey (2001-2012) into two periods: 2001-2007, when Spain was in a clear expansionary period, and 2008-2012, a period of deep economic recession. For the expansionary years, we find a sizable relocation of native workers to occupations with more interactive rather than manual content as a response to immigration. However, the pattern changes completely in the recession period of 2008-2012. There is no evidence of any relocation of natives to different occupations as a response to an immigration shock and we find a sizable negative impact on the employment levels of earlier immigrants.

Key words: Immigration, Task specialisation, Gender segregation, Occupational mobility, Business Cycle.
JEL Classification: J15, J24.