Die Arbeitslosigkeit in Spanien sinkt zum ersten Mal seit 17 Jahren unter 10 %, nachdem im Jahr 2025 605.000 Arbeitsplätze geschaffen wurden

Translation:

The employment outlook continues to bring good news to Spain: the unemployment rate has fallen slightly below 10% for the first time since 2008. The Labor Force Survey (EPA) for the fourth quarter of 2025, published this Tuesday, indicates that the proportion of unemployed people relative to the total active population is 9.9%, seven-tenths of a percentage point lower than last year and five-tenths of a percentage point lower than in the previous quarter. The last time Spain reported an unemployment rate below 10% was in the first quarter of 2008 (9.6%), at the beginning of the rise in this variable during that deep economic crisis. The drop in the unemployment rate coincides with another year of strong job creation, with 605,400 more people employed, reaching a new record of 22.46 million. Spain is, once again, the country that contributes the most new jobs in the European Union.

These employment figures come against a backdrop of robust macroeconomic growth. GDP grew by 2.9% last year, and the Bank of Spain forecasts another 2.2% growth in 2026. The International Monetary Fund anticipates a further 0.1% increase (2.3%) this year, making Spain one of the fastest-growing advanced economies.

The 605,400 new jobs Spain gained in 2025 represent a higher figure than in 2024, which was already a very good year for the labor market. In 2024, the number of workers grew by 468,200, a 2.2% increase, while the growth in the last year was 2.8%. The increase in the labor market was indeed more vigorous in 2023, with 749,000 more workers and a 3.6% rise, although it should be noted that 2023 was the first relatively normal year after the health crisis.

These annual figures are supported by positive quarterly growth, in a period marked by the Christmas season: Spain gained 76,200 workers from the third to the fourth quarter of 2025, more than double the increase of the previous year (+34,900). Thus, the total number of employed people climbed to 22.46 million, a new all-time high.

The number of unemployed, however, is decreasing less sharply than last year. There are 118,400 fewer unemployed people in Spain at the end of 2025 than in the same period of 2024. In the previous year, this figure fell by 265,300 people, and in 2023, by 220,800. Nevertheless, the relative figure, with a 4.6% decrease in the last year, is an improvement over the figure recorded just before the pandemic, from 2019 to 2018 (-3.4%).

In quarterly terms, which help to better explain seasonal dynamics, the number of unemployed fell by 136,100 people, a more modest decrease than in the same period last year (-158,600).

Despite the positive aspect of the drop in the unemployment rate to 9.9%, with a contraction of seven-tenths of a percentage point throughout 2025, the improvement appears to be slowing, as the rate contracted by 1.2 percentage points in both 2024 and 2023. Spain remains one of the countries with the worst unemployment rates in the European Union, far below the EU-27 average (6%), despite the sustained improvement of recent years.

The Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, believes that these EPA (Active Population Survey) figures show that “employment remains dynamic.” “Furthermore, this has been accompanied by a continued improvement in job stability, with permanent contracts increasing by almost 550,000 [in the last year]. It is worth highlighting the boost from the private sector, which accounts for 92% of the jobs created in the last 12 months,” adds the head of the Economy Department.

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As a note: In modern times, Spain has only been below 10% unemployment a handful of times. A brief period in the late 70s, and a brief period in the mid 2000s (right before the 2008 crash).

Historical unemployment: [https://i.imgur.com/sU2Tpww.jpeg](https://i.imgur.com/sU2Tpww.jpeg)

Unfortunately the report doesn’t mention in what field the jobs were created and how the payment level of these jobs is. A spicy little detail…

Me and most of my friends joined the job market at the 2008-2012 period (depending on level of studies). You would get lots of people spend years unemployed, and with no unemployment benefits. People that had found jobs earlier having to go back to their parents or grandparents. Families living of the retirement pension of the grandparents. You would get 25-yr old people asking their parents/grandparents for money to go for a beer/coffee with their friends. People losing their jobs at 50 that never worked again. It wasn’t unusual for someone to end their studies, and spend years before they could find their first part time job. That time was bleak.

Nowadays there are many difficulties for young people, some new some the same, but there’s just no comparison.

As a Spaniard myself. It’s great news, I remember joining the workforce in 2016 and even the it was still tough. I hope many are high-qyality jobs and not your seasonal/catering jobs.

Still, the rate at which unemployment falls is too slow. It shows that Spain’s labour market is far from competitive and flexible.

Esto es culpa de Perro Sanxe

Ah no esto no

gg espana

I remember having a boss praising our Spanish suppliers for some equipment we ordered in. „They have such high unemployment they can pick the very best candidates and get to pay them whatever they want“. He was genuinely jealous of them.