Unemployment falls by 5,994 people in February to 2,593,449, the lowest figure in 17 years for this month

The number of people registered in the State Public Employment Service (SEPE) at the end of February reduced by 5,994 people (-0.23%) compared to the January. February is a month in which the usual trend is for the number of people registered with the public employment services to rise.

Total unemployment stands at 2,593,449, the lowest figure for a month of February since 2008.

Compared to February 2024, unemployment fell by 166,959 people (-6.05%). In seasonally adjusted terms, unemployment also fell by 10,287 people.

Unemployment by sector

In relation to January, registered unemployment fell in the Services sector by 5,764 people(-0.31%), in Construction by 3,409 people (-1.76%) and in Industry by 2,214 people (-1.10%). Unemployment has increased in Agriculture by 210 people (0.25%) and among those Without Previous Employment by 5,183 (2.22%).

Over the last 12 months, unemployment has fallen in all sectors.

Unemployment by gender and age

Female unemployment stood at 1,562,954 women, down 477 (-0.03%) from January. This is the lowest number of unemployed women in this month since 2008. Compared to a year ago, female unemployment fell by 92,612 women (-5.59%).

As for male unemployment, it fell by 5,517 (-0.53%) compared with the data for January, and stood at 1,030,495 men. Compared to February 2024, male unemployment fell by 74,347 (-6.73%).

Among young people under 25 years of age, unemployment rose in February by 6,522 people (3.46%) compared to January.

Unemployment by autonomous community

In February unemployment fell in nine autonomous communities and the sharpest falls in absolute numbers were in the Valencian Community (-6,074 people), Catalonia (-2,318 people) and Andalusia (-2,268 people).

However, it has risen in Madrid (4,172 people), the Canary Islands (1,328 people) and Castilla-La Mancha (801 people).

Contracts

The number of contracts signed was 1,098,491, of which 481,683 were permanent contracts, 43.85% of the total.

Unemployment benefits in January

Nationally, the number of beneficiaries at the end of the month stood at 1,808,297 people, which is 5.9% fewer than the previous year in the same month.

The coverage rate of the unemployment protection system during the month of January 2025 was 74.11%, reaching its highest value since 2011.

The average monthly expenditure per beneficiary, excluding the agricultural subsidy in Andalusia and Extremadura, in January 2025 was 1,253.4 euros, which represents an increase of 148.4 euros (13.4%) over the same month the previous year.

Expenditure on benefits in January amounted to 2.215 billion euros.

Non official translation