Spanish Unemployment Drops Below Double Digits to 9.93%

unemployment office

According to the Labor Force Survey (EPA), released by the National Statistics Institute (INE), the number of employed persons in Spain increased by 76,200 in Q4 2025 compared to the previous quarter, reaching a total of 22,463,300 people. In seasonally adjusted terms, the quarterly variation rate for Q4 2025 was 0.90%, while employment grew by 605,400 people year-on-year.

Simultaneously, during the quarter under review, unemployment fell by 136,100 people, totalling 2,477,100. In seasonally adjusted terms, unemployment decreased by 1.00% in Q4 2025, while the year-on-year decline reached 118,400 people.

As a result, the unemployment rate stood at 9.93% in Q4 2025, down from the 10.45% recorded in Q3 2025. This outperformed the FactSet consensus analysts’ expectations, which had projected a higher rate of 10.3%.

Finally, it is worth noting that the number of economically active persons decreased by 59,900 in Q4 2025, falling to 24,940,400. Over the last year, however, the active population increased by 487,100 people.

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The Corner
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.