In the first half of September 2026, Spain recorded 22,409,090 people registered with social security in the seasonally and calendar-adjusted series. This is according to a government statement published on 17 September 2026 . Compared with the same period in 2025, this represents an increase of 701,580 people, equivalent to year-on-year growth of 3.23 per cent .
According to official figures, the number of employed people rose by 90,097 over the past four weeks. The highest daily figure in the current data series was reported on 14 September with 22,489,205 registrations. The figures come from a fortnightly analysis of ongoing administrative data and are regularly seasonally and calendar-adjusted by Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones .
The minister responsible, Elma Saiz described the increase as confirmation of a robust labour market. The government points to recent labour reforms as a political cause, saying they have increased the share of permanent contracts and reduced the use of fixed-term contracts. These attributions are political assessments. The facts established are the reported headline figures for totals and changes, and the date of publication.
For context, La Moncloa also points to the longer-term trend: the adjusted series has recorded a significant increase since the end of 2023, with the total noticeably higher than in December 2021. Such historical comparisons are intended to show trends, but do not replace a detailed analysis by sector, age group and type of employment.
Methodologically, it is worth noting that seasonally and calendar-adjusted series filter out recurring patterns such as holiday periods, hiring peaks and monthly calendar effects. This makes it easier to identify structural movements than in raw monthly or daily data. Unadjusted series can fluctuate considerably in summer and during campaign periods, but this does not in itself allow conclusions to be drawn about the underlying trend.
Several points are key to monitoring developments: first, whether the latest increase continues in the coming fortnightly periods; second, how the trend is distributed across sectors; and third, what contribution is made by self-employed and foreign workers. These aspects are tracked in the ministry’s detailed tables and make it possible to distinguish cyclical from structural effects.
Key figures in this report: 22,409,090 seasonally adjusted employed people in the first half of September 2026, an increase of 701,580 year on year, year-on-year growth of 3.23 per cent, published on 17 September 2026.
Editor: Daniel Mayer (Article created with AI assistance).