Economically Active Population Survey (EAPS)

The number of employed persons decreased by 170,300 in the first quarter of 2026, standing at 22,293,000. The quarterly variation rate was -0.76%.

This quarter, the number of unemployed persons increased by 231,500 to 2,708,600. The quarterly variation in unemployment was 9.34%.

The economically active population increased by 61,200 in the third quarter of 2026 to 25,001,600. The number of economically active women increased by 46,700 and that of men by 14,400.

By nationality, the number of active people decreased in the last quarter by 4,600 among Spaniards, and increased by 65,800 among foreigners.

The activity rate fell by eight hundredths, standing at 58.86%. Among Spaniards, it also fell by eight hundredths to 57.21%, while that of foreign nationals decreased by 25 hundredths to 68.49%. The different age structure is the main reason for the difference between the two.

In annual terms, the economically active population increased by 447,000 persons. The annual variation rate was 1.82%.

Households where all active members are unemployed increased by 78,500 this quarter, to 850,700. On the other hand, households with all economically active members in employment decreased by 121,300 to 12,045,000.

In the last 12 months, the number of households with at least one economically active member in which those members were unemployed decreased by 32,200, while those where all active members were employed increased by 263,200.

The largest increase in employment this quarter was in Canarias (up 17,000). And the largest decrease was in Cataluña (-46,300).

In relative terms, the highest increase was also in Canarias (1.63%), where employment figure are presented, as well as other EAPS data, according to the autonomous community of residence of the respondents, not according to the location of the workplace.

In terms of unemployment, the largest decrease was recorded in Canarias (-14,400). The largest increase was in Cataluña (up 84,400).

Cantabria (7.49%) recorded the lowest unemployment rate this quarter. Andalucía (14.66%), the highest.

At the provincial level, a summary of the results can be found in this document and all the information is available via this link.

As regards seasonally-adjusted unemployment results, a decrease of 0.40% was observed.

Adapting to the new classification of economic activities in the European Union has led to a new coding of the EAPS variables relating to the activity branch starting from the first quarter of 2026.

The variables subject to this new coding are as follows:

• Main employment activity of employed persons
• Second job activity (employed with more than one job)
• Activity in the last job (unemployed and inactive people who left their last job less than a year ago)

The transition from CNAE-2009 to CNAE-2025 means certain activity branches will be redistributed among the main economic sectors. Thus, activities that were once classified entirely within one sector are now divided among several.

For example, the branch Repair and installation of machinery and equipment, which in the CNAE-2009 was part of the Industry sector, is now distributed in the CNAE-2025 among Industry, Agriculture and Services.

Similarly, the branches Building construction, Civil Engineering and Specialized construction activities no longer exclusively pertain to the Construction sector and are now distributed partially between this sector and that of Services.

And certain branches in Services, such as Storage and transport-related activities, Other professional, scientific and technical activities and Office administrative activities and other auxiliary services to companies now incorporate components that are assigned to the sectors of Industry and Construction.

The complete information on all the changes caused by the new coding of activity branches is available on the INE website.

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) has been carried out since 1964. Its current methodology from 2021 onwards adapts the previous methodology to the new European Labour Force Survey regulations.

It is a continuous, quarterly research activity addressed to families, whose main purpose is to obtain data on the labour force and its various categories (employed, unemployed), as well as on the population outside the labour market (inactive).

As of the third quarter of 2025, and once the current agreement signed with the Instituto Galego de Estatística (IGE) has expired, the additional sample of Galicia integrated in the survey since the third quarter of 2009 will disappear from the EAPS.

Type of survey:

quarterly continuous survey.

Population scope:

population residing in family homes.

Geographical scope:

the entire national territory.

Reference period of the results:

the quarter.

Reference period of the information:

the week before the interview.

Sample size:

The number of census sections is 5,010. The average number of homes selected per section will increase from 14 to 15, and the increase will be carried out gradually, with the corresponding renewals of each sixth of the sample, from the first quarter of 2026 to the second quarter of 2027. Since the third quarter of 2025 the effective sample contains about 46,000 dwellings and 110,000 people.

Sample type:

two-stage stratification in the first stage units, i.e. census tracts. The second-stage units are inhabited family dwellings.

Collection method:

personal, telephone and web interviews.

For more information, you can access the methodology and the standardized methodological report.

INE statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Good Practice for European Statistics. More information in Quality at INE and Code of Best Practices.