In 2023, Spain saw a significant decrease in unemployment rates, according to data released by the country’s Ministry of Labour and Social Economy. The figures showed a drop of 130,197 unemployed individuals, which equates to a 4.59 percent decline from the previous year. This represents the lowest unemployment rate for the beginning of the year since 2007.

Unemployment dropped across all sectors in Spain: the service sector saw 81,333 less unemployed individuals, industry had 17,731 fewer, construction had a dip of 15,483, and agriculture saw 13,339 fewer. The total number of registered unemployed individuals now stands at 2,707,456, of which 1,616,973 are women, and 1,090,483 are men.

The year also marked the creation of 539,740 new jobs, bringing the total number of working individuals registered with Spain’s Social Security system to 20,836,010. Joaquin Perez Rey, Secretary of State for Labor, lauded these statistics, especially highlighting the 15 million workers on indefinite contracts. Despite this positive outlook, the data showed a smaller reduction of unemployment in December 2023, which could suggest a possible slowdown in 2024.