The EPA's early-year figures translate the late Easter into 193,000 more unemployed and 92,500 job losses.

The labor market began 2025 with 92,500 fewer employed people and 193,000 new unemployed, raising the unemployment rate to 11.36%, after having fallen below 11% at the end of 2024 for the first time in 16 years. Data from the Labor Force Survey (EPA) published this Monday by the National Statistics Institute (INE) show a trend in employment in the first quarter marked by the absence of the stimulus of Easter, celebrated in April. The total number of employed people at the end of March stood at 21,765,400, and the number of people without work stood at 2,789,200, following the worst first quarter for unemployment in the last 12 years.

The beginning of the year typically sees a negative labor market performance due to the high seasonal load of the period, mainly due to the end of the Christmas season. On this occasion, moreover, between January and March, there were no additional hiring plans for the Easter long weekend, which, above all, boosts the hospitality and services sectors—although last year's job had no positive effect .

Employment fell by 0.4%, with job losses concentrated in the public sector, where 92,200 jobs were lost, falling from 3.5 million to 3,499,100. Private employment fell by 300 people in the first quarter, reaching 18,266,300. The decrease in employment is also concentrated among men, temporary employees, and part-time workers, marking a record high.

The decline in employment improves on the record for the first quarter of 2024, when 139,700 jobs were lost, but not on the record for 2023, when only 11,100 jobs were lost. The total number of employed people, at 21,765,400, surpasses the record 21.8 million achieved in the last two quarters of 2024. In seasonally adjusted terms, however, the figure for employment exceeded 22 million for the first time, following an increase in employment of 159,700 people (+0.73%). This figure, which does not take into account calendar effects, is cause for celebration for the Ministry of Economy, which indicates in an assessment of the EPA that "it demonstrates the dynamism of the labor market, with the pace of job creation maintained and with more stable employment in higher value-added sectors."

All sectors lost jobs in the first quarter except agriculture, where 25,000 new jobs were created (+3.4%). The largest decline in employment recorded by the EPA was in services, with 112,300 fewer jobs (-0.7%), followed by industry (-4,400 jobs, -0.1%), and construction, which lost 700 jobs through March (-0.05%).

Unemployment rose 7.4% quarter-on-quarter, marking the sharpest increase in a first quarter since 2013, when it rose by 257,200. At the end of March, the total number of unemployed stood at 2,789,200, the highest unemployment figure since the first quarter of 2024. Following the rise in unemployment of almost 194,000, the unemployment rate climbed more than seven-tenths of a percentage point to 11.36%, its highest level since the first quarter of 2024. In this case, the Ministry headed by Carlos Cuerpo highlights that compared to the first quarters of other years, this quarter's unemployment rate is the lowest since 2009.

The annual figure remains positive, with unemployment falling by 188,700 (-6.3%) and 515,400 jobs created (+2.4%) over the past 12 months. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, has fallen by 0.93 percentage points during that period.

Unemployment rose in all economic sectors, especially in services, with 124,900 more unemployed than in the previous quarter (up 12.3%). This was followed by industry, with 21,100 more unemployed (up 17.5%); construction, which added 13,700 unemployed (up 13.2%), and agriculture, where unemployment increased by 4,500 (up 3.6%).

The context is completed by the activity rate, which shows a slight increase to 58.57%, due to an increase in the working population of 101,200 people (+0.4%) to encompass 24.6 million active workers . This figure "reflects workers' confidence in the dynamism of the labor market," according to the same Economy Ministry statement. The number of active workers has increased by 326,700 people (+1.3%). In this sense, the group of those seeking their first job, made up mostly of young people, increased their unemployment rate by 11,200 people between January and March (+4.5%), bringing the total to 261,700 unemployed.

INE data indicate that the number of salaried workers fell by 90,000 people (-0.5%) in the first quarter - the majority of the reduction in temporary employment (-80,200) - compared to a decrease of 9,800 (+0.69%) in salaried workers with permanent contracts, down to 15.7 million people.

The average number of effective weekly hours worked by all employed persons increased by 0.3% year-on-year, to 32.5 hours . The total number of effective weekly hours worked by all employed persons increased by 2.6% year-on-year: 681.86 million hours were worked, compared to 664.74 million a year earlier.

The job losses recorded in the first quarter only affected men: women gained 1,600 jobs between January and March (+0.02%), in contrast to the loss of 94,100 jobs among men (-0.8%). The figure for employed women avoids the bad start, reaching a new record after growing by 1,600 in the first quarter to a total of 10,152,800 women workers . This is in contrast to a rise in male unemployment of 77,200 (+6.2%). With these figures, the female unemployment rate increased by almost nine-tenths of a percentage point, to 12.72%, while the male unemployment rate rose six-tenths of a percentage point, to 10.14%.

The youth unemployment rate did not follow the same pattern. The number of unemployed people under 25 rose by 16,000 in the first quarter, 3.8% more than the previous quarter, reaching a total of 450,900 at the end of March. Thus, the EPA indicates that the youth unemployment rate climbed to 26.5% , 1.6 percentage points higher than the last quarter of last year (24.90%) and the highest since the third quarter of 2024.

Of the 2.78 million unemployed people in Spain at the end of the first quarter of the year, 16.1% were young people under 25 years of age, and 35.7% were long-term unemployed (more than a year unemployed). The latter increased by 18,300 in the first quarter, almost 1.9% more than the previous quarter, to 995,400. Even so, the annual figure is positive, as the number of unemployed has decreased by 58,400 (-5.5%) since the first quarter of 2024.

The number of households with all members unemployed rose by 49,500 in the first quarter, a 5.9% increase compared to the previous quarter, reaching 882,900. Over the last year, these numbers have decreased by 95,000, which represents a 9.7% decline in relative terms. On the other hand, the number of households with all members employed decreased by 121,700 (-1%) between January and March, to a total of 11,781,700 households; over the last twelve months, they have increased by 236,700 (+2%).

At the end of March, there were 885,500 'Ni-nis' (young people aged 16 to 29 who neither work nor study) in Spain, 42,000 fewer than a year earlier, and 1,102,200 'Si-sis' (those who both work and study), 41,600 more.