Employment 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.

This has been the most significant finding in the balance sheet. registered unemployment in Spain during 2025The number of unemployed people under 25 fell in December to 176,852, the lowest figure on record. The overall positive performance of the labor market, especially since the end of the pandemic, has also helped to alleviate one of the labor-related grievances the country has faced since the Great Recession.

July, August, and September, the three busiest months of the tourist season in our country, closed with a new record for employment in Catalonia, but also with more people losing their jobs. This is indicated by data from the Active Population Survey (EPA) published this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

The labor market continues to expand both in Catalonia and throughout Spain. Employment continued to grow in the second quarter of the year, with Catalonia now approaching four million employed people and reducing the unemployment rate to almost 8%, according to data from the Labor Force Survey (EPA) for the second quarter of this year, published this Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). Overall, employment in the country exceeds 22 million workers for the first time, while the unemployment rate falls below 11% and for the first time falls below pre-2008 financial crisis levels.

Catalonia was the autonomous community where unemployment grew the most in the first quarter, with a weak start to the year for the labor market, according to data published this Monday in the Active Population Survey (EPA) prepared by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). Specifically, 47,200 new jobless cases were registered, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 14.3%.

The data for January, February and March published by the Ministry of Labour already hinted that unemployment in Catalonia would continue its downward trend of the last nine months, albeit with a smaller drop. This Thursday the Labour Force Survey published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) corroborate it.

Second consecutive time that the Labour Force Survey (EPA) comes with positive data for the labour market despite the pandemic. The statistics the National Institute of Statistics (INE) has made public this Thursday show that during the second quarter the number of unemployed fell by 21,200 people in Catalonia, to 478,500, and the unemployment rate eased to 12.28%. In fact, it was the second region in Spain with the most important quarterly drop, only behind Murcia (-22,200 unemployed). The comparison with the same period of 2020, however, reveals that pre-pandemic levels have not been fully recovered. Catalonia still has 5,600 unemployed more than in the second quarter of last year, when we were in complete lockdown in order to contain the spread of covid-19. It should also be borne in mind that many people who were then still on furlough have now been laid off.

After a year of pandemic, there are still about 88,100 more unemployed in Catalonia than in the first quarter of 2020. This was confirmed on Thursday by data from the Labour Force Survey (EPA) published by the INE, which confirms that the last three months unemployment fell by 38,000 people and the rate that observes unemployment fell to 12.9%. The start of 2021, therefore, resulted in the creation of 33,000 new jobs.