Spain closed 2025 with a milestone that had not been seen in the labor market for almost 18 years: the unemployment rate was below 10% for the first time since 2008, at 9.93%, and created more than 600,000 jobs throughout the year, leaving the number of employed people at 22,463,300 people, a new historical employment record.
Data from the Active Population Survey (EPA) published this Tuesday show that Spain is beginning to heal the wounds that the 2008 crisis left in the country’s labor market. The lowest unemployment rate recorded so far this century was 7.93% in the second quarter of 2007. From then on the reference shot up to almost 27% in the first quarter of 2013.
The year 2025 was a great year for employment, with the creation of 605,400 jobs. It was the best year since 2023, when the labor market added almost 750,000 workers. And they are figures comparable to those of 2006, when Spain added 686,200 employees.
Unemployment figures were more modest, with a reduction of just under 120,000 people throughout the year. But this is fundamentally due to the great leap that the active population has taken (that is, those of age and willing to work), which reached close to 25 million. The Spanish labor market has never been so large and 2025 was the second year since the bubble with a greater increase in the number of workers in the economy.
The fourth quarter of the year added 76,200 employed people and subtracted 136,100 unemployed people, leaving the figure at a total of 2,477,100 unemployed people. In terms of job creation, the fourth quarter of 2025 was the best since 2019, except for 2020 and 2021, still heavily influenced by the effects of the pandemic. Regarding the reduction in unemployment, it was slightly worse than the end of 2024, but well above the data to which the labor market was accustomed before COVID-19.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, employment had a female name, since more jobs were created among women (55,800) than among men (20,400). It was also stronger among the foreign population (52,500) than among people born in Spain (23,700).
By sectors, the strength of the Christmas campaign and milestones linked to commerce such as Black Friday boosted employment in the Services sector (78,300 more employees), but there were also more workers in both Agriculture (33,400) and Construction (2,300). It only decreased in the area of Industry, with a drop of 37,800 jobs.
Full-time employment decreased by 115,600, while part-time employment increased by 191,800. The number of employees totaled 51,300 people, but the composition showed a higher quality: permanent contracts added 127,900 more, while temporary contracts fell by 76,500. The number of self-employed workers grew by 22,300.
(We are expanding this information)
Source: www.eldiario.es
