Social Security registered an increase of 477,818 national insurance contributors in January compared to the previous year

The labour market grew by almost 480,000 people in the last twelve months, 477,818 in the original series, to a total of 21,573,632. This is an increase of 2.3% year-on-year and the highest level for a January in the whole series.

Compared to December, a decline of 1.2% was recorded, in line with other months of January. This is traditionally a negative month for the labour market, an effect that has been exacerbated this year by particularly adverse weather. Specifically, a decrease of 270,782 contributors was recorded.

Discounting the seasonal component and the calendar effect, there were 17,311 more registered contributors in the last month alone, reaching a total of 21,885,039, the highest level in the historical series. This figure represents around 2.1 million members since before the labour reform.

"Thanks to significant year-on-year growth, January ends the month with the highest number of workers in the series. We must look closely at the seasonally adjusted data, which show that the performance of the labour market remains very strong. We are the fastest growing economy in our area and a driving force for job creation in Europe", said the Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz.

The number of women national insurance contributors remains at historically high figures for a month of January, with 10,211,265 on average. This is 235,397 more employed women than a year ago, and there are also 242,420 more men in work, for a total of 11,362,366 male contributors. Women's employment has risen by 16.3% since the year before the labour reform, 3.2 points above the figure for men.

The number of foreign workers remains at a record high this month at 3,038,158. This group represents 14.1% of the total this month.

Data by age

The figures for national insurance contributors aged under 30 and over 55 are particularly positive, with an above-average rate of increase since 2021.

Employment in the under-30 group has increased by 26.7% and in the over-55 group by 23.7% since before the labour reform. This represents an increase of almost 15 percentage points in the first case and 12 percentage points in the second, figures that are above the 11.8% increase for the overall average.

Of particular relevance is the increased number of workers in the over-64 age group, which has grown 51.4 points above the average.

Self-employed

The number of self-employed workers continues to grow and stands at over 3.4 million (RETA and SETA), with 37,796 more than a year ago, a growth of +1.1%.

Higher employment growth than neighbouring countries

The Spanish labour market (+11%) continues to show a higher growth rate than other European economies (Italy, +6%; France, +2.1%; Germany, +1.4%), based on data from the end of 2021, before the labour reform came into effect.

More stability and quality in employment

There has been a major transformation in the types of contracts in our labour market since January 2021. This means 4,641,341 more contributors with permanent contracts, and 1,897,432 fewer contributors with temporary contracts. There are increasingly more stable jobs, with more rights and better salaries. The largest increase is among full-time permanent contracts, with 299,915 more than a year ago. Meanwhile, part-time contracts increased by 65,159.

The weight of temporary workers stands at 11.6%, down from 29.4% in January 2019. This improvement is even more remarkable among workers aged 55 and over, who have a temporary employment rate of 9.1%, compared to more than 20% seven years ago.

Non official translation