Spain's Social Security System Sees Record Employment Growth in 2024
The Social Security system in Spain experienced significant growth in employment in 2024, registering 501,952 new contributors, a 24% increase compared to the previous year. By the end of December 2024, the number of employed individuals reached 21,337,962, marking the highest figure in the system's history. Additionally, the country witnessed the lowest unemployment rates recorded since 2007, according to the latest report from the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration.
This surge in employment marks the third-largest annual rise since 2018, where the employment figures only surpassed those of 2021 and 2023, which saw increases of 776,478 and approximately 540,000, respectively. The year 2024 is notable as it marks the fourth consecutive year of employment growth, rebounding from the drastic job losses during the pandemic when over 360,105 jobs were eliminated in 2020.
In December alone, Social Security added an average of 35,500 contributors, the most significant increase for this month since 2018, with the exception of December 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the last four years, nearly 2.3 million new contributors have been added to Social Security, highlighting a strong recovery trajectory.
When viewed in seasonally adjusted terms, December closed with an increase of 42,700 workers, resulting in a historic high of 21,344,487 employed individuals, representing a total growth of 501,551 contributors from 2023.
The Ministry also noted that employment growth in Spain since late 2021, prior to labor reform, has surpassed that of several major European countries, with Spain witnessing an 81% increase compared to Italy's 55%, France's 23%, and Germany's 17%.
A significant milestone within this employment growth is the increase in female contributors, which reached over 10 million for the first time. Of the nearly 502,000 new contributors added in 2024, more than half (50.4%) were women, with female employment growing by 252,944 individuals, a 25% rise. Consequently, the total number of women contributors at the end of the year stood at 10,109,202, the highest yearly figure on record.
Meanwhile, male employment also showed a robust increase, with 249,008 new contributors or a 22% rise, bringing the total to 11,228,761 men. Since the labor reform, female employment has grown by 108%, outpacing men's growth by 29 percentage points.
Youth employment has also demonstrated resilience, increasing by 20.5% since 2021, which is significantly higher than the overall growth average. Additionally, the number of foreign contributors surged by 212,042 in 2024, a remarkable 79% increase over the previous year, leading to a total of 2,880,818 employed foreign individuals—the highest count recorded at the end of a fiscal year.
The trend shows that, over the last decade, employment among foreign workers has grown at a faster rate than that of national workers, now accounting for approximately 13.5% of the total contributors to Social Security. The data underscores the positive momentum in the Spanish labor market as it continues to recover from the impacts of the pandemic.
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