Spain exceeds 22.5 million average members for the first time, after creating more than 642,500 jobs in the last year

The Social Security registers once again a maximum historical affiliation. Employment has maintained a strong growth rate and exceeds for the first time the 22.5 million average members (22,508,065) in its original series, after adding 41,727 occupied in July. This means that, in the last 12 months, membership has gained 642,562 members; a year-on-year variation that accelerates to exceed 2.9%, which is the highest rate of job creation since April 2023.

“The labor market is growing at an exceptional pace so far in 2026. We can observe it in year-on-year terms, but also if we analyze the behavior in these first seven months of the year, when we counted 663,652 members of Social Security more,” explains the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz.

The behavior of the affiliation of foreigners is especially dynamic. In the original series, there are 3,512,223 average affiliates, which is 66,046 more than in June and 420,875 more than a year ago. “Overall, they already represent 15.6% of the total membership and continue to play an essential role in the dynamism of the labor market and in sustaining the Social Security system,” explains Saiz.

High for the regularization process

If a photograph of the labor market is made on July 30, the number of foreign affiliates regularized in discharge by the extraordinary process amounted to 262,475. On the same day, the total number of members was 22,502,259.

Of these 262,475 members, 81.5% (213,883) were covered by the General Social Security System, while 12,675 (4.8%) were self-employed. In addition, by sex: 60.3% were men (158,171) and 39.7% were women (104,304).

There are 66 consecutive months of employment growth

If the seasonality and the calendar effect are discounted, the affiliation reaches 22,288,120 occupied, after adding 79,567 affiliates compared to June and 638,667 more than in the same month of 2025. “We are not talking about an isolated piece of data. We have been creating jobs continuously for 66 consecutive months and that continuity is the best proof of the solidity of the Spanish labor market and the confidence generated by our economy,” explains Elma Saiz.

In addition, in the daily membership records, it is noted that the majority of the month, between July 8 and 30 (except July 10), has exceeded the level of 22.5 million members.

Affiliation by sector of activity

The sector that has grown the most in the last year, together with the total number of members of the General Social Security System and the Special System of Self-Employed Workers, is Publishing, Broadcasting and Content Production and Distribution (6.4%). Construction (6.1%) and Real Estate Activities (5.6%) follow

In the case of the General Social Security System, the average membership has shown a year-on-year growth of 3.2% (584,088). This percentage has been largely exceeded in sectors such as Construction (+7.3%), Agriculture, Livestock, Forestry and Fisheries (+6.8%), Publishing, Broadcasting and Content Production and Distribution (+5.9%), Water Supply and Sanitation (+5.6%) and Health and Social Services Activities (+4.2%).

Almost 58,000 more self-employed people in the year

In the case of self-employed workers, the year-on-year increase reaches 1.7%, where the highest growth is recorded in: Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning Supply (+15.4%), Telecommunications, Computer Programming, Consulting and Computer Infrastructure (+12.7%), Real Estate Activities (+9.2%) and Editing, Broadcasting and Content Production and Distribution Activities (+8.4%).

Overall, the number of self-employed workers amounts to 3,472,357, which is 57,984 more than a year ago and 205,188 more than in July 2018.

There are 1.8 million more women members than in 2018

Women ' s employment is growing by almost one percentage point more than men ' s and stands at around 10.6 million employees (10,578,040). Specifically, there are 306,811 members more than a year ago and there are more than 1.84 million more women than in 2018. The improvement in female employment since 2018 is 21%, while that of men is 15.8%.

Women members account for 47% of the total number of employed, 1.1 percentage points more than in 2018. Its presence in the labor market grows at a year-on-year rate of 3%. At the same time, employment in men also experiences a maximum, with 11,930,025 affiliates, after adding 335,751 in the last year and 1.63 million since 2018.

Employment ceilings for young people and over 55 years of age

When analyzing the evolution of employment in the last eight years, it is observed a greater growth of the older group, in the stretch of 55 years and over, as well as in the younger ones. The employment of the elderly has grown by 51.7%, to a total of almost 5 million; and that of workers under 30 years of age and under, 33.6% since 2018 (there are 3.9 million), which is 33.5pp and 15.4pp, respectively, above the total, which is 18.2%.

The favorable evolution of employment has been accompanied by the improvement in the contribution bases from the pre-pandemic levels that show a growth of 47.5% among young people from 25 to 29 years and 47% in those under 24 years from the first quarter 2018 to the same period of 2026. There was a growth of 13.5 percentage points above the average (+33.7%) in the contribution bases in children under 30 years of age, which reflects the increase in wages in this age segment.

Stability and quality in employment

Since July 2021, there has been a major transformation in the types of labour market contracts: there are 4,893,692 more workers with indefinite contracts and 2,034,685 less affiliates with temporary contracts.

There are more and more stable jobs, with more rights and better salaries. The largest increase occurs among those employed on open-ended full-time contracts, with 327,471 more than a year ago; while those affiliated with part-time contracts increase by 70,087.

The weight of temporary workers stands at 13.4%, compared to 29.4% in July 2021. This improvement is even more remarkable among workers under 30 years of age, who have a temporary rate of 23.7%, when they had a rate of 54.8% five years ago.

With respect to the youngest, workers aged 30 and under have increased by 34.6% since July 2021. They are 999,923 more and reach a total of 3,893,353; which far exceeds the average growth rate of 14.9%.

Finally, the ratio between contributor and pensioner stands at 2.5, which is the highest level since 2011.

Additional information in Excel and on the web:

https://w6.seg-social.es/PXWeb/pxweb/es