Unemployment rises by 38,725 in January and the total remains below 2.6 million, the lowest for the month in 17 years

The number of unemployed people registered with the State Public Employment Service (SEPE), at the end of January, increased by 38,725 in relation to the previous month (1.51%). This is a smaller than average increase in the first month of the year.

With respect to January 2024, the number of unemployed people fell by 168,417 (-6.08%).

Registered unemployment stood at 2,599,443, the lowest figure for January in the last 17 years.

In seasonally adjusted terms, unemployment fell by 33,055 people.

Unemployment by economic sector

Compared with December 2024, registered unemployment fell in the Construction sector by 4,527 people (-2.28%) and Industry by 241 people (-0.12%). Also among those Without Previous Employment, it decreased by 2,201 (-0.93%).

It was up in Services 44,595 (2.42%) and Agriculture 1,099 (1.31%).

Unemployment by sex and age

Female unemployment was up by 31,869 (2.08%) in relation to December, standing at 1,563,431 and is at its lowest level for January in the last 17 years.

Male unemployment was up by 6,856 (0.67%) to 1,036,012.

Compared to January 2024, female unemployment fell by 95,446 (-5.75%) and male unemployment by 72,971 (-6.58%).

Unemployment among young people under 25 increased in January by 2,563 people (1.38%) compared to the previous month and stood at 188,364, the lowest figure for January in the historical series.

Unemployment by autonomous community

Registered unemployment, in absolute terms, fell in the Balearic Islands and rose in the rest of the autonomous communities, with Andalusia (11,903 people), the Community of Madrid (3,541 people) and the Valencian Community (3,078 people) leading the way.

Contracts

The total number of contracts registered in January was 1,213,905. Of this total, 508,215 are permanent, representing 41.87% of all contracts.

Unemployment benefits in December 2024

The total number of male and female beneficiaries at the end of the month was 1,788,185.

The system's coverage rate has reached 74.51%, the highest since 2010.

The average monthly investment per beneficiary, not including the agricultural subsidy in Andalusia and Extremadura, in December 2024 was 1,192.3 euros, 122.2 euros more (11.4%) than in the same month of the previous year.

The total investment for the month of December was 2.0838 billion euros.

Non official translation