The month of August once again records negative data for employment, as is usual in an economy as seasonal as the Spanish one. The end of the high tourism season and the loss of affiliations in the education sector cause registered unemployment to have increased by 44,419 people, double that of August 2025 (it rose by 22,000 people) while the number of Social Security affiliates decreased by 162,840 employed compared to July, down to a total of 22,345,226 affiliates.
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The figure for the reduction in Social Security affiliates is lower than in previous years thanks to the dynamism of foreign affiliations. On average, Social Security registers 3,551,759 foreigners in August, which is 39,535 more than in July, while in the two August months of 2025 and 2024 this foreign affiliation fell by about 22,000. This is 482,490 more than a year ago. “Almost 340,000 affiliates active this month come from the extraordinary regularization process of foreign persons,” highlighted the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations, Elma Saiz, in the press release.
For its part, the rise in unemployment in August, which grows by 44,419 people, is significant, almost double that of the same month in the previous two years, an increase also related to regularization, as stated by the First Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, in her assessment of the employment data. The Vice President explained that unemployment rises in August somewhat more than usual because “some of these people register for the first time at employment offices” after accessing their extraordinary regularization.
With this effect, the decline in registered unemployment last month is the worst figure for an August since 2019, when unemployment rose by 54,371 people. Since the start of the comparable historical series in 1996, unemployment has fallen in August on six occasions and risen on 25. The largest decrease was in August 2021, when it fell by 82,583 unemployed, while the largest increase was recorded in 2008, when the financial crisis raised unemployment by more than 103,000 people that month. In August last year, unemployment rose by 21,905 people.
Still, total registered unemployment stands at 2,355,918, below the 2.4 million mark. It is its lowest level in an August since 2007, in the period prior to the financial crisis.
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The employment decline is widespread and occurs in practically all sectors, but the one that takes the lead is education, which loses 76,535 affiliates, 6.5% more than the previous month. Here, as always, the layoffs of teachers during the summer are paid, who will subsequently be rehired in September and October. Hospitality does not lose jobs but grows slightly, by 0.4% compared to last month, and the impact is greater in administrative activities and auxiliary services, which lose 18,083 jobs.
By sectors, registered unemployment increased mainly in services, with 28,563 more unemployed (+1.7%), followed by construction (+4,669 unemployed, +2.9%) and industry (+3,731 unemployed, +2.1%). In contrast, it fell in agriculture by 912 people (-1.3%), while it increased by 8,368 people (+3.5%) in the group without previous employment, mostly composed of young people seeking their first work experience.
Despite the seasonal behavior of August after the end of the holidays, the Minister of Labor has highlighted the strength of employment. “Unemployment in Spain has decreased in the last year by 70,593 people, that is 2.9% less, and we have 710,000 fewer unemployed in the labor market than in 2019,” she emphasized, also highlighting that affiliation has risen by 679,023 people in the last twelve months to mark “the highest for an August since records began.”
