Unemployment falls by 57,835 in May, dipping below 2.5 million for the first time since July 2008

The number of people registered as unemployed in the offices of the State Public Employment Service (SEPE) has fallen by 57,835 compared to the previous month (-2.30%).

Registered unemployment stood at 2,454,883 and fell below the two and a half million mark for the first time since July 2008.

Compared to the same month of the previous year, unemployment fell by 152,967 (-5.87%).

It also fell in seasonally adjusted terms by 12,250 people.

Unemployment by economic sector

Unemployment falls in all economic sectors in May. So the number of unemployed people in Services was down by 42,930 (-2.36%), in Construction by 5,562 (-2.99%), in Industry by 4,574 (-2.35%) and in Agriculture by 2,259 (-2.77%). Also, among the No Previous Employment group, the number of unemployed fell by 2,510 (-1.07%).

Unemployment by sex and age

In May, female unemployment fell by 29,066 women (-1.92%), bringing the total number of unemployed women to 1,486,421, its lowest level since October 2008.

The male unemployment rate fell below the one million mark to 968,462, down by 28,769 (-2.88%) compared with April.

Unemployment among young people under 25 fell in May by 6,426 people (-3.62%) compared with the previous month. The total stood at 171,003, the lowest figure in the historical series for this group.

Unemployment by autonomous community

The total number of people out of work fell in all the autonomous communities. In absolute terms, the most significant falls were in Andalusia (-13,239), the Community of Madrid (-7,923) and Catalonia (-6,198).

Contracts signed

The total number of new contracts registered in May was 1,328,983. Of these, 552,697 employment contracts are permanent. They represent 41.59% of all contracts, following the new employment stability trend.

Unemployment benefits in April

There were 1,515,513 existing beneficiaries at the end of the month.

The average monthly expenditure per beneficiary, excluding the agricultural subsidy in Andalusia and Extremadura, in April was 1,317.90 euros, which represents an increase of 235.4 euros (21.7%) over the same month the previous year.

The coverage rate of the unemployment protection system in April 2025 was 74.06%. That is 20 percentage points higher than a decade ago.

The total investment in April 2025 amounted to 1,944.5 billion euros.

Non official translation