Unemployment in Spain falls below 10% for the first time in eighteen years

BarcelonaEmployment in Catalonia and Spain continued to grow in the last three months of 2025, reaching record highs. This led to the unemployment rate falling to its lowest level in almost two decades in Spain, below the 10% mark, according to data from the Labor Force Survey (EPA) published this Tuesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE). In Catalonia, however, the unemployment rate rose slightly. Thus, the unemployment rate in Catalonia was 8.24% in the fourth quarter of 2025, six hundredths of a percentage point higher than... the 8.18% recorded in the previous quarterHowever, the increase in the unemployment rate occurred despite a reduction of approximately 900 people in the total number of unemployed workers over the quarter, which stood at 351,200. This is because, proportionally, the number of unemployed decreased at a slower pace than the total number of people (employed or unemployed) active in the labor market, which fell from 4.3 million to 4.26 million between the third and last quarters of last year. As for the total number of employed people—that is, workers with jobs—in Catalonia, this figure fell by approximately 37,400 to 3,913,200.

The Secretary of Labor of the Catalan Government, Paco Ramos, has described the results of the EPA (Active Population Survey) in Catalonia as "positive." According to Ramos, the increase in the unemployment rate is due to "an increase in the active population" and not so much to "job losses." In this regard, he emphasized that the unemployment rate has remained at a very similar level for the past year. "The dynamics of the labor market will continue on the path of growth; it remains to be seen whether the labor market can absorb this growth in the active population and whether there will be a similar growth with respect to the employed population," he analyzed. Conversely, the unions have considered the data as proof of the "entrenchment of many structural problems" such as precarious employment, youth unemployment, and temporary contracts, according to a statement from UGT of Catalonia. For its part, CCOO has asked the administrations to do "everything possible" to achieve full employment. Exhaustion in the services

By sector, agriculture created the most jobs in Catalonia during the last three months of 2025, with a 9.9% year-on-year increase in employment, a growth rate not seen in a decade. Construction and industry also posted positive figures, with increases in employment in these two sectors of 7.8% and 3.2%, respectively. The services sector, which represents more than two-thirds of economic activity in Catalonia and employs the majority of the working population, showed the least positive performance. Specifically, employment in this sector registered its lowest growth since 2020 (at the height of the pandemic restrictions), increasing by only 0.4%. In absolute numbers, agriculture employed 4,500 more people, while construction created 19,000 new jobs, more than the service sector, which added 12,700. Construction was the sector that hired the most new workers. Unemployment levels at record lows in the State

Across the country, the number of employed people increased to 22,463,300 (22,462,900 adjusted for seasonal effects), a record high and 0.34% higher than the previous quarter. In seasonally adjusted terms, there are 606,200 more employed people in Spain than a year ago, a rise of 2.77%. This increase in employment pushed the unemployment rate in Spain down by more than half a percentage point to 9.93%, placing it below the symbolic 10% mark for the first time since the first quarter of 2008. The number of unemployed fell to 2,477,100. By autonomous communities, Catalonia has the seventh lowest unemployment rate, a ranking led by Cantabria and Madrid with 6.7% and 7%, respectively. At the other end of the spectrum, Andalusia has a rate of 14.6%, and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla exceed 22%. "Employment maintains its dynamism and even accelerates its growth rate at the end of the year," highlighted the Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, in a message sent to the media, in which he also emphasized "the drive of the private sector" in job creation. According to the minister, the labor market is "stronger" and "more stable" than it was a few years ago. Similarly, the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, also celebrated the drop in unemployment in Spain with a message on social media in which he asserted that there is "more stability, less youth unemployment, and more quality employment."

Despite the Spanish government's optimism, the country's unemployment rate remains higher than that of the rest of the European Union, where the average stands at 6% (6.3% if only the 21 countries that share the euro are considered). In fact, until the third quarter of 2025, Spain had the highest unemployment rate among EU member states and was the only one, along with Finland—a country mired in an economic crisis for years—to exceed the 10% mark. These figures contrast sharply with Germany, for example, a country that has experienced two years of recession and yet had an unemployment rate of 3.9% last summer.