The number of Social Security contributors exceeds 21.7 million in one of the best Septembers in history

The labour market exceeded 21.7 million registered contributors in one of the best Septembers in the historical series. There were 56,700 more employed people than in the previous month, if we discount seasonality and the calendar effect. This growth was 0.3%, reaching 21,728,949 employed people, placing this series at an all-time high.

The figure is an increase of more than 1.92 million contributors since December 2021, before the entry into force of the labour reform.

The average contributor figure (original series) is also close to 21.7 million, at 21,697,665. In the last year, the number of contributors has risen by 499,459. Compared to last August, this represents 31,462 more contributors, which is one of the best performances in a month of September (only surpassed in 2020 and 2021) since records were created in 2002.

Between 22 and 29 September, daily contributor figures were again above 21.8 million.

"Another month of data confirms both the strength of the labour market in Spain and that the reforms have been and continue to be effective. If we compare the results with 2019, we see that there are many more workers, 2.3 million more, and that the contribution bases have grown by 23.4% on average in the General Regime. Since the 2021 labour reform, there are 4 million more workers with permanent contracts", explained the Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz.

Young people and women

The number of contributors is growing especially among the under-30s and the over-55s. Employment among young people has increased by 24.3% and among older people by 23.3% since before the labour reform, more than double the average employment growth rate of 11.1% in this period.

Furthermore, the number of women among the Social Security contributors remains at historically high figures, with 10,234,627. The improvement in employment among women is 12.6% since before the labour reform, 2.8 points higher than that of men.

Highly productive sectors

In the last twelve months, the number of contributors has increased in the vast majority of the sectors of the General Regime. This increase is even more significant in Transport and Storage (+8.2%), Agriculture, Livestock, Hunting, Forestry and Fishing (+5.8%), Arts, Entertainment and Recreation (+4.6%), Education (+4.5%), Water Supply (+4.5%), Construction (+4.2%), Real Estate Activities (+3.9%), and Scientific and Technical Professional Activities (+3.3%).

By age, high value-added activities, such as Information and Communications and Scientific-Technical, are among the top five with a significant presence of young people, with growth of more than 29% since 2021, more than 3 percentage points above the average.

Self-employed

Meanwhile, the number of self-employed workers remains at record levels, above 3.4 million (RETA and SETA), with 3,413,292 self-employed workers, 36,212 more than a year ago, representing a growth of 1.07%.

Since September 2024, self-employment in the Information and Communications and Scientific-Technical Professional Activities sectors has increased by 10.4% and 4.7%, respectively. The two sectors together account for more than 24,324 new self-employed workers, that is 67% of the employment created in this Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers in the last year.

Higher employment growth than neighbouring countries

Employment in Spain (+9.9%) continues to grow at a higher rate than in other European economies (Italy, +6%; France, +2%; Germany, +1.5%), with reference to data from the end of 2021, before the entry into force of the labour reform.

In terms of the quality of employment, compared to the start of the labour reform there are 4 million more workers with permanent contracts, an increase of 36.9% since December 2021.

The weight of temporary workers stands at 12.6%, down from 30.8% in 2018. This improvement is even more remarkable among workers under 30 years of age, who have a temporary employment rate of 21.3%, compared to more than 54.7% seven years ago.

Medium bases

The favourable evolution of employment since the years of the pandemic has gone hand-in-hand with an improvement in the contribution bases of the General Social Security Scheme, which covers 18,219,536 workers, or 84% of contributors.

In May, the month with the latest available data, the average contribution base stood at €2,269 per month for employees in the General System. In particular, activities linked to Energy Supply, Information and Communications and Financial and Insurance Activities have the highest average bases at above €3,000 per month.

The contribution bases have grown especially among the youngest workers. In fact, since 2019, the year before the pandemic, the average contribution base of the under-30s has increased by 8.5 percentage points above the average.

Non official translation