Spain: 21,857,900 million employed… but over 831,000 “fixed discontinuous” employees not working and seeking work

unemployment spain

According to data from the Active Population Survey (EPA) published this Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), unemployment decreased by 265,300 people in 2024, which represents a 9.3% decrease compared to 2023, while employment grew by 468,100 jobs (3.8%), closing the year with a new record of 21,857,900 employed and a number of unemployed lower than 2.6 million. It is true that this figure does not include the 831,000 fixed discontinuous workers registered with the Public Employment Service who were seeking work at the end of 2024. The figure of fixed discontinuous workers allows for a manipulation of unemployment figures and prevents an accurate understanding of the magnitude of the problem.

According to INE data, the decrease in unemployment in 2024 was greater than in 2023 (193,400 fewer unemployed) and 2022 (79,900), but less than in 2021 when the return to normalcy after the pandemic caused a drop in unemployment of more than 600,000 people. In terms of employment, the 468,100 jobs created in 2024 do not surpass the 783,000 from 2023 but do exceed the 278,900 jobs generated in 2022. With the decline in 2024, unemployment has accumulated four consecutive years of decreases.

Regarding employment, there have now been four consecutive years of growth following 2020, the year of Covid, in which 622,000 jobs were lost. The unemployment rate at the end of 2024 stood at 10.61%, nearly 1.2 percentage points lower than in 2023, while the total number of unemployed closed the year at 2,595,500 people, registering its lowest levels since the second quarter of 2008, as highlighted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business in an assessment of the data sent to the media. Meanwhile, the employment rate reached a historical high for a fourth quarter, standing at 67.5%.

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The Corner has a team of on-the-ground reporters in capital cities ranging from New York to Beijing. Their stories are edited by the teams at the Spanish magazine Consejeros (for members of companies’ boards of directors) and at the stock market news site Consenso Del Mercado (market consensus). They have worked in economics and communication for over 25 years.