As it does every year, January brought significant job destruction and an increase in unemployment. It was a difficult month for the labour market; following the end of the Christmas season and lacking other sectors to drive hiring, the drop of 270,800 social security affiliates in 2026 is notably high—the largest since 2012. On the other hand, registered unemployment increased by 30,400 people, which is actually a lower figure than usual. Consequently, the average number of workers registered with Social Security fell to 21.57 million in the first month of the year.
According to the USO union, “the most concerning data point is the increase in job seekers, which grew by nearly 80,000 people to reach 4,380,992—nearly two million more than the total number of unemployed individuals.”
“Of those, nearly 1.4 million are employed. This speaks to the poor quality of employment. Not only is unemployment rising, but those who are working wish to improve their situation. This is primarily the result of an increase in part-time shifts—most of which are involuntary. Someone who cannot survive on a third or half of a salary will obviously continue looking for work,” denounces Joaquín Pérez, Secretary General of USO.
