According to official figures from the SEPE, unemployment rose by 44,419 people compared to July (+1.92%), reaching a total of 2,355,918 people. The year-on-year decrease stands at 70,593 people and is largely due to the extraordinary immigrant regularization process, which has mitigated the negative impact of the end of the summer season.
The spike in unemployment affected all 17 autonomous communities, particularly Catalonia (+14,594), Madrid (+6,881), and the Valencian Community (+5,847). Only Ceuta managed to reduce its figure, with 148 fewer unemployed. This increase is directly related to the termination of summer and tourism-related contracts.
By sector, unemployment grew in Services (+28,563), First-time jobseekers (+8,368), Construction (+4,669), and Industry (+3,731), while falling only in Agriculture (-912).
Social Security lost 162,840 average contributors, a drop typical of August, driven especially by the end of contracts in education, which accounted for a loss of 76,535 contributors.
Although the extraordinary regularization of immigrants allowed the month to close with 22.34 million contributors, Joaquín Pérez, secretary general of the USO trade union, notes that “this momentum does not fix the underlying issues, which are disguised temporary employment, involuntary part-time work, and constant turnover.”
According to the union, the August data once again highlight that job creation in Spain remains unstable, temporary, and of low quality, especially in sectors where turnover is structural. The seasonally adjusted growth of 83,844 contributors is not sufficient to compensate for real job losses nor to consolidate decent career trajectories.
