ACRONYMS National Statistics Institute
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24 October 2025

Economically Active Population Survey (EAPS)

Third Quarter 2025

Main results

  • The number of people in employment increased by 118,400 compared with the previous quarter to 22,387,100. In seasonally adjusted terms, the quarterly variation rate was 0.40%. Employment has increased by 564,100 in the last 12 months.
  • Unemployment increased by 60,100 to 2,613,200. In seasonally adjusted terms it decreased by 0.66%. In the last 12 months, it decreased by 140,900 people.
  • The unemployment rate was 10.45% this quarter, 17 hundredths more than in the previous quarter.
  • The number of active workers grew by 178,500, reaching 25,000,300. Over the past year, it increased by 423,100 people.

The number of employed persons increased by 118,400 persons in the third quarter of 2025, and stood at 22,387,100. The quarterly variation rate was 0.53%.

Variation of employment in the third quarter compared with the second of the same year

Thousands 

By gender, employment increased this quarter by 107,100 men and 11,300 women. By nationality, it increased by 80,500 for Spaniards, including dual nationality, and increased by 37,900 for foreigners.

By sector, employment increased in Industry (64,100 more), Services (39,100), and Construction (32,600). At the same time, it decreased in Agriculture (17,400 fewer).

Full-time employment increased by 314,500 persons. Part-time employment decreased by 196,100. On the other hand, the number of employees increased by 129,200: those with permanent contracts increased by 74,800 and those with temporary contracts by 54,400. The number of self-employed workers decreased by 10,500 persons.

This quarter, private employment increased by 107,600 persons to 18,854,400. Public employment increased by 10,800, standing at 3,532,700.

In the past 12 months, employment rose by 564,100 people (2.58%), with increases of 275,000 among men and 289,100 among women. By sector, the largest increase was in Services (315,600 more persons employed).

In the past 12 months, full-time employment rose by 460,200 persons and part-time employment by 103,900. On the other hand, permanent employment grew by 530,600 persons, while temporary employment decreased by 87,900.

Unemployment and unemployment rate

This quarter, the number of unemployed persons increased by 60,100 to 2,613,200. The quarterly variation in unemployment was 2.35%.

Variation of unemployment in the third quarter compared with the second of the same year

Thousands

The unemployment rate increased by 17 hundredths and stood at 10.45%.

By gender, the number of unemployed men decreased by 22,600 this quarter, while the number of unemployed women increased by 82,700. The unemployment rate for women rose by 61 hundredths of a point to 12.11%, while that for men fell by 23 hundredths to 8.97%.

By nationality, unemployment increased by 59,600 among Spaniards, including those with dual nationality, while it remained practically unchanged among foreign nationals (600 more).

This quarter, unemployment increased in Services (75,700 more) and in Agriculture (10,800). And it declined in Industry (16,600 fewer) and Agriculture (-10,300).

Unemployment decreased by 48,900 among those who lost their job more than a year ago and increased by 49,400 among those seeking their first job.

In the past 12 months, the total number of unemployed decreased by 140,900 persons (123,200 men and 17,800 women). The annual variation was -5.12%.

By sectors, unemployment declined over the past year in all sectors: Services (12,300 fewer), Construction (-12,300), Agriculture (-8,300) and Industry (-3,900). On the other hand, the number of unemployed persons who lost their jobs over a year ago decreased by 91,000 and that of unemployed persons looking for their first job by 13,100.

Economically active population and activity rate

The economically active population increased by 178,500 persons in the third quarter of 2025 to 25,000,300. The number of economically active women increased by 94,000 and that of men by 84,500.

By nationality, the number of active persons increased in the last quarter by 140,100 among Spaniards and by 38,400 among foreigners.

The participation rate increased by 27 hundredths of a percentage point to 59.30%. The Spaniards’ rate grew by 29 hundredths to 57.63% and that of foreign nationals by three hundredths to 69.34%. The different age structure is the main reason for the difference between the two.

In annual terms, the economically active population increased by 423,100 persons. The annual variation rate was 1.72%.

Households

Households where all active members are unemployed decreased by 6,100 this quarter, to 790,800. On the other hand, households with all economically active members employed decreased by 34,400 to 12,037,700.

In the last 12 months, the number of households with at least one economically active member in which those members were unemployed decreased by 63,700, while households where all active members were employed increased by 239,700.

Results by autonomous communities and provincial data

The largest increase in employment this quarter was in Andalusia (65,500 more). The largest decrease was in Comunidad de Madrid (60,700 fewer).

In relative terms, the highest quarterly increase was in the Illes Balears (4.05%), 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 Illes Balears (10,500 fewer). The largest increase was in Andalucía (32,400 more).

Illes Balears (5.77%) recorded the lowest unemployment rate this quarter. Andalucía (15.27%), 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.

Seasonally adjusted series

The seasonally adjusted quarterly variation rate of employment was 0.40%.

Quarterly variation rate of seasonally adjusted employment

Percentage

As regards seasonally-adjusted unemployment results, a decrease of 0.66% was observed.

Quarterly variation rate of seasonally adjusted unemployment

Percentage

The seasonally adjusted model and the employment and unemployment series can be found at this enlace.

Data revisions and updates

During 2025 the LFS will continue to use the CNAE-2009 classification of economic activities. The new classification CNAE-2025 will be implemented from the first quarter of 2026, the time set by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/137 to provide data with this classification for the labour force scope subject to Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

The data published today are final. All the results of this operation are available at INEbase.

Methodological note

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 was 14. Since the third quarter of 2025 there are 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.

For further information see Inicio INEbase Official INE account on @es_ine
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