The public sector added 89,900 jobs in Spain over the summer while private employment fell by 16,300. The broader labour market weakened: unemployment rose by 95,900 people to 2,591,200 and the jobless rate reached 10.18%, up from 9.87% in the previous quarter, information from the National Statistics Institute (INE).
The increase in unemployment was the largest for a third quarter since 2020. Employment grew by 73,600, its smallest third-quarter rise since 2019, leaving 22,852,600 people in work, a record level. At the same time, the active population expanded by 169,500 to a historic 25,443,800. The labour force so grew faster than employment, and the number of unemployed rose even as the total employed reached a new high.
Foreign workers accounted for virtually all of the net employment increase. Employment among foreign workers rose by 75,400, while the number of employed Spanish nationals fell by 1,800. The increase in foreign employment coincided with the closing phase of Spain’s extraordinary regularisation process. On a seasonally adjusted basis, unemployment increased by 0.14%, its first rise in more than six years, while the total reached 2.59 million.
The INE’s figures do not provide an automotive-sector breakdown; a separate used-car market report covers another part of Spain’s transport economy.
Spain’s unemployment rate remains close to 10%, despite the Government’s extraordinary regularisation lead. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise says the 10.18% rate is the lowest recorded for a third quarter since 2007, before the financial crisis pushed unemployment above 25% in subsequent years. Spain remains among the European countries with the highest jobless rates. Partido Popular president Alberto Núñez Feijóo described the figures as evidence of an economic slowdown and said unemployment was approaching three million; that figure is a political claim, while the official INE count stands at 2,591,200.
Education added 107,700 workers over the summer, a 7.5% rise similar to that seen in other years. The INE figures show that education hiring is shaped by the academic calendar: teachers are dismissed in June and rehired in September, a pattern that leaves employment in the sector unstable during the break and makes third-quarter comparisons sensitive to timing. The quarter’s overall employment gain was also described as weaker than usual, despite the record number of people in work.
