January is a job crusher in Spain. A look at the, which dates back to the beginning of the century, shows that every year the occupation goes down in the first month of the year, even during the brick bubble. January 2025 has not been an exception, with the destruction of 242,148 jobs, with special virulence in trade and for women. It is a downturn slightly higher than the previous year and also overflows the latest preceding exercises. You have to go back to 2020 to find a greater fall in the number of affiliates. The figures are more positive in unemployment: it grows by 38,725 people, an acceleration much less than 60,404 unemployed last year and 70,744 of the previous year.
Beyond the trends month by month, which allow trend analysis ,: Spain had never registered so many workers in January (21,095,814) and you have to go back to 2008 to find a number of unemployed less than the current one (2,599,443 , 17 years ago it was 2,261,925).
The cut of 242,000 jobs compared to December 2024 is a drop of 1.13%, very similar to the drop in January last year, 1.11% and 231,250 affiliates, according to data distributed by the Ministry of Social Security . The previous highest drop in relative terms occurred in 2021, with a setback of 1.15%, and in absolute a year earlier, in 2020. Then, two months before the statement, Spain lost 244,044 positions. To have a more general vision, it is appropriate The average setback in the same period was 207,000 jobs, compared to 242,000 this year.
The analysis of the affiliation in annual terms throws a balance of 491,053 jobs created, halfway between 523,537 of the previous 12 months and the 454,063 precedents. These figures were reached with similar energies, in which, like this time ,. It usually freezes the labor market in the first months of the year, until it is rebounded in Holy Week, when a virtuous stage that is moderate in September begins and accelerates again with the Christmas campaign. The Ministry of Economy hopes that the creation of jobs will be maintained in similar terms.
The detail by sectors shows that the destruction of employment is concentrated in two very seasonal activities, such as trade (48,363 less affiliates in the general regime, until it is 2.61 million) and the hospitality (47,630 less, 1.37 million in total). The downturn is also considerable in administrative activities (-45139), Health and Social Services (-14,764) and in Public Administration (-14,473). The only area that manages to create employment in January is considerably transport and storage, with 3,618 affiliates to the general regime.
The number of freelancers also falls, with a downturn of 17,815 compared to December 2024, a downturn slightly higher than last year (-16.949). For territories, back to the total affiliation, the worst data are notified in Jaén (-2.61%), Tarragona (-2.09%), Badajoz (-2.03%), Castellón (-1,93 %) and Ávila (-1.83%). Social security affiliation only grew in January in Ceuta (+0.06%), Huesca (+0.17%) and Huelva (2.36%).
The Ministry of Elma Saiz puts the focus on the unequalized figures, with which it appreciates an increase of 35,000 affiliates from December to January and 501,000 in the last year. “The Spanish labor market reflects a dynamism superior to that of the great European economies since before labor reform and grows 8.5%, compared to 5.4% of Italy or 1.6% of Germany,” the ministry values Social Security.
The leadership of trade in the drop in employment anticipates disaggregation by sex: women, most in stores, lose 133,334 jobs, compared to the 108,815 that men are left with respect to December 2024. This makes the figure of affiliated women Social security is slightly below, a border that had crossed in September last year.
Upload, but less than usually
The worst performance for women in January is also appreciated in the registered unemployment figures, distributed by the Ministry of Labor. 82% of the increase in unemployment is attributed to them, with 31,869 stops of the total of 38,725. Along the same lines, the services sector adds almost all the new unemployed, 44,595 compared to December, to which 1,099 more of the field are added. These negative data are compensated by the descent of unemployment in industry (-241), people without previous employment (-2.201) and construction (4,527).
The Ministry of Labor underlines in the press release in which it analyzes the data that “in interannual terms, the female strike falls into 95,446 women and the male strike low in 72,971 men” and that “the total number of women in unemployment is located 1,563,431, its lowest level in the last 17 years in a January ”. The Department of Yolanda Díaz also highlights the youth unemployment figures: “The unemployment of young people under 25 amounts to in January in 2,563 people (1.38%) compared to the previous month and is located in 188,364, the figure lower than the historical series in a month of January. ”
Back to the global unemployment analysis, it is a leap less than usual in the first month of the year: last year 60,404 unemployed and the previous one, 70,744 were added. They are increases of 2.23% and 2.49% respectively, compared to 1.51% of the last year. The average unemployment advance in the last decade is 65,000 people, much higher than this year’s increase, something that is also appreciated in relative terms: an average of 1.93% from 2015 to 2024 increased, four tenths more than in 2025 .
