Number of National Insurance contributors rises by 74,080 in February

This increase was mainly due to the positive performance of the General Regime, with a year-on-year rise of 552,168 contributors (up 3.96%).

Monthly change

The General Regime posted a rise of 68,506 contributors (up 0.47%), to stand at 14,502,781. Noteworthy rises in the number of contributors were seen in February in Construction, up 23,921, or 3.45%; Education, up 19,769, or 2.37%; Hotel and Catering, up 16,966, or 1.57% and manufacturing Industry, up 13,207, or 0.77%. In contrast, declines were posted in the Trade and Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorbikes, down by 14,874, or 0.64%, which is typical in the month of February.

The Special System for Agricultural Workers posted a decline of 28,334 contributors (down 3.48%). The sector now has an average total of 784,847 contributors. In turn, the Special System for Domestic Workers saw a rise of 4,673 (up 1.11%) to stand at a total of 426,682 workers.

3,181,472 contributors were registered under the Regime for Self-Employed Workers, following a rise of 4,041 people (up 0.13%).
A rise of 1,511 contributors was posted in the Special Regime for Seamen (up 2.52%), to a total of 61,385 workers. Finally, the Regime for Coal Workers posted a rise of 22 contributors (up 0.86%) to a total of 2,618 workers in February.

In seasonally-adjusted terms, which is key for viewing trends in affiliation, the number of contributors has now risen for 39 consecutive months, with 46,079 more contributors.

Affiliation to the Social Security system in February rose in all autonomous regions, except Andalusia (down 1,603) and Castile La Mancha (down 6). Noteworthy increases were posted in Catalonia (up 22,588), the Balearic Islands (up 12,414) and the Region of Madrid (up 13,242).

Comparison with 2016

In year-on-year terms, February closed with an average of 580,543 more contributors (up 3.38%). Specifically, the General Regime posted buoyant results, with a rise of 541,828 contributors, up 3.96%. This rise exceeds 4% when looking at the General Regime in a strict sense (discounting the Special Systems for Agricultural Workers and Domestic Workers).

It should be noted that the rate rose by 0.9% under the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers, which translates into an increase of 28,407 workers. The Regime for Seamen rose by 1.49% (up 904), while the Regime for Coal Workers posted a decrease of 935 contributors (down 26.32%).

Compared with last year, the number of workers has increased in all provinces and autonomous regions. Particularly noteworthy are the Balearic Islands, with an increase of 5.51%, the Canary Islands, with an increase of 5.18%, the Region of Murcia, with an increase of 4.04% and Catalonia, with an increase of 3.94%.