employment

Spain has broken employment records. It has also broken a record of workers who need two payrolls

by

The Spanish labor market closed 2025 with a record that no one would want to celebrate: never before have so many people needed to juggle two jobs at the same time. While the data highlighted in bold reveals record in memberships and a unemployment downthere is a figure that tells another equally revealing story about how the reality of employment in Spain is changing. Low salaries and the imposition of part-time work hours are the main triggers for the need to have several jobs to make ends meet. The data collected by a study of Randstad reveals that the number of employed people with more than one job In Spain they have already exceeded 630,000, which is a historic figure. The highest number ever recorded. At the end of 2025, a total of 632,800 employed people in Spain had a secondary job (or several), which is 50,000 more people than last year. In it last data Collected by the INE in 2022, the number of multi-employed people stood at 520,500 people. That of 2025 is the highest figure and represents an increase of 8.6% in just twelve months. The phenomenon continues to be a minority in relative terms since it affects around 2.8% of the total number of employed people, but its growth reveals that something is happening in the labor market. However, this growth is also included in the logic of growth of the labor market: there are more employees with jobs, so the probability that these employees have more than one job also increases. Precariousness is one of the keys. One of the keys to understanding this increase is not so much to look at the number of people with more than one job, but rather at the number of people with part-time work. According to EPA data From the last quarter of 2024, full-time employment decreased by 115,600 people, while part-time employment increased by 191,800. This information is relevant because a worker who wants to work full-time will look for a way to combine two (or more) part-time jobs to complete (or exceed) the time and salary that he or she would obtain with a full-time job. More women, but just barely. Although the difference is small, women slightly outnumber men in moonlighting. According to INE data corresponding to the end of 2025, a total of 317,200 women had more than one job, which is equivalent to 3% of the total number of employed women, compared to 315,400 men, which represented 2.6% of the total number of men. Once again, we find ourselves in a scenario in which, due to the need to reconcile childcare and precariousness, women are more likely to occupy positions with part-time hours. According to official dataIn 2025, part-time contracts for women increased by 62,311. A few hours in hospitality. The sector where the majority of those who chain two jobs are concentrated is the services sector, which brings together 87.5% of all multi-employed workers in the country. As and how I collected Investedof the more than 632,000 workers with double occupation, some 553,300 carried out their activity in this hospitality sector and services. The industrial and productive sectors reduce the presence of multi-employment workers due to the high demand for full-time labor that is registered in them. Thus, Industry recognizes 40,700 employees with more than one job, Construction 21,600 multiple employees and Agriculture 17,000. ​What’s coming in 2026. Randstad Research’s forecasts for this year indicate that Spain will reach an annual average employed population of 22.64 million people, which would represent a growth of 1.9% compared to 2025. The unemployment rate, according to these estimates, will continue to decline and will reach an annual average of 9.8%. However, 2026 presents a complicated economic scenario in which inflation can reduce purchasing power of families, which will predictably contribute to multiple employment in Spain continuing to rise, setting new records. In Xataka | A 22-year-old engineer combined two full-time jobs. His secret: do the minimum so that they don’t give him more work Image | Unsplash (Valentine)

Employment among those over 65 triples and reaches the maximum in the historical series. There is a good reason: retirement

by

The labor market in Spain has recorded several notable milestones in recent months: record contributions, lowest unemployment rate in decades and recovery of youth employment. However, the last annualized EPA data They hide a story that goes beyond global figures. According to Annual average data for 2025 published this week by the INE, the employment rate among those over 65 has reached its historical maximum, and the reason is not that older Spaniards have discovered a sudden love for work. There is something structural behind it that deserves a closer look. An aging workforce. The aging of the population in Spain, and the changes in the pension system that were approved in the 2011 reform, are quietly but very significantly redrawing the Spanish labor map. What a decade ago seemed like a statistical anomaly has today become a consolidated trend with direct consequences on the future and viability of public pensions. The EPA data of the fourth quarter of 2025 indicate that at the end of the year there were 4,926,300 employed people over 55 years of age in Spain. This represents a growth of 23.3% in this age range since the 2022 labor reform, compared to the 11.3% average increase recorded by the rest of the ages. But the most striking thing is that the employment rate among those over 65 years of age has tripled compared to the levels of a decade ago, with 14.25% for men between 65 and 69 years old and 12.29% for women in the same age group, compared to the 5% that was registered in 2015. The employment rate for men between 60 and 64 years old is around 58% in 2025. highest since the early 1980s. All this used to be retirement. What largely explains this rebound in employment among the population over 65 years of age is not a greater demand for experienced workers, but rather the progressive delay in the legal retirement age. In 2026, the legal age for access ordinary retirement For those who have less than 38 years and 3 months of contributions it is 66 years and 10 months. This displacement forces many people to remain active beyond the age of 65 at which they could previously retire. Howeverthe report ‘Quarterly Labor Market Observatory‘ prepared by Fedea and BBVA Research confirms that the increase in senior membership is mainly due to the aging of the population and the delay of retirement agewhich often responds to the need to continue working due to financial difficulties. Staying in the job market at that age is not easy. However, although the data points to record percentages compared to historical figures, the reality is that their employment situation is not a bed of roses. a study of the BBVA and Ivie Foundation has revealed that those over 55 years of age register for the first time an unemployment rate of 9.8%, exceeding the unemployment rate of the group of people between 25 and 54 years of age. Furthermore, six out of ten unemployed of that age group They are long-term unemployed, a percentage that triples that of young people between 16 and 24 years old. The data depict a labor market in which workers over 55 years of age they lose their jobs a decade before their retirement age, and must survive throughout that time either with temporary employment, or in a situation of chronic unemployment due to lack of opportunities. At the other extreme, the employment rate of 14.2% shows those who have managed to stay afloat or get out of that hole. The pension system, the backdrop. Behind all these figures there is a reality that economists have been pointing out for years: the pension system needs people to work longer. to be sustainable. The reforms have been moving incentives in that direction, tightening the requirements for early retirement with greater pension reduction coefficientsand with a progressive increase in the necessary years of contributions. The result is what the data is already showing: there are more and more people who cannot retire at age 65 and must extend their working life until age 67 (effective in 2027) to access their retirement pension. In Xataka | What is the regulatory base: how it is calculated in 2026 with examples Image | Unsplash (Matt Bennett)

The last public employment offer leaves a revealing fact after years of record figures: Spain needs more officials

by

In recent years, the Pedro Sánchez government has promoted public employment calls that have broken historical figures for the number of public employment places. However, the new Public Employment Offer (OPE) for 2025 that has just known a turning point marks. Although it will have 36,588 new places, this figure represents a reduction with respect to the previous calls, and shows a worrying reality: the lack of personnel in the administration. New call 2025. The New Public Employment Offer presented by the Executive contemplates a total of 36,588 places, which represents a decrease of 9% with respect to the 2024 offer that was 40,146 places. Specifically, the number of places corresponding to the General State Administration is reduced mainly, which this year adds 26,889 positions, that is, 4,500 less than the previous year. This marks a change of trend against the years in which the calls carried the label of “historical” for its volume of places. The Independent Trade Union and Officials (CSIF) summarize it Clearly: “The places are insufficient to cover the losses accumulated in the administration of the State in recent years”, in addition to the majority union of the officials, they slide that the absence of new budgets and the freezing of funds of the European Union are already noticed in this call. Distribution by bodies and lack of personnel. Among the bodies that will be reinforced their workforce are the State Security Forces and Bodies. According to official data, the National Police Corps will have 3,139 new places, 300 more than the previous year, while the Civil Guard will add 555, reaching a total of 3,713 new places. The army too It will increase its template In 2025, with the incorporation of 2,847 new troops, 200 more than in the previous year. For its part, the Central Administration will have 20,324 new free access places, which will add 6,565 internal promotion places, which must be covered with part of the new 20,324. In that quota, 8,851 places of new allocation are also included to strengthen citizen service services in the offices of the SEPE, foreigners, cadastre, issuance of the DNI, DGT, Social Security or Tax Agency. The challenge of the generational relief. Since the current government arrived at La Moncloa, he says have summoned 260,000 public employment places. As Minister Óscar López highlighted in the presentation of the OPE by 2025, this leaves an average of 32,522 annual public places. Even with that effort, the reality is that the structural needs of employment in the public sector continue to be effective. As reflected in the EPA data (Active Population Survey) of the first quarter of 2025, for the first time since 2018, public employment registers a decrease of 51,900 people in its template. Thus, although the calls try to compensate for accumulated casualties, the balance is still negative. One of the main challenges facing the administration is to absorb the Retirements planned for the next decade. According to collected data In the study on the aging of the templates in the General State Administration 2024, 59.95% of the staff of the General State Administration is over 55 years old. This aging forces the administration to Compensate retirement that each year occur, with new additions. In 2023, for example, the number of retirement was 10,758 officials, while only 8,770 new officials were incorporated to cover those places, leaving a deficit of 1,988 positions that were not covered that year. Below the average public employment in the OECD. Internationally, the data does not accompany. According to the report ‘Government at A Glance 2025’ Of the OECD, Spanish public employment represented in 2023 15.25% of the total active population, below the average of 18.41% of the OECD countries. In addition, despite the increase in the number of places, the Public Employment Growth It has been developed at the same rate as private employment, without equating the boom that other countries have applied to balance essential public services. In Xataka | The easiest oppositions to approve in Spain following three criteria: by agenda, for places and for requirements Image | Flickr (Treball Generalitat de Catalunya

The great drama of private employment in Spain: almost everyone would sacrifice him for being an official

by

The data reveals the Last study ‘Status of discomfort: the labor turn to the public sector ‘prepared by Oppositatest leaves a photograph of the current state of the employment of the private sector in Spain: seven out of ten Spaniards would leave a stable job in the private sector for a fixed position in the public sector. Public employment is gaining land as the preferred option in an increasingly challenging labor market. The Stability searchbetter working conditions and a more favorable environment for reconcile personal and professional life It is promoting this transition to the private sector. Public employment: a refuge value. The portal dedicated to the formation of opponents conducts an annual study of the situation of the opponent. On this occasion, the report has been based on 2,000 representative interviews at the national level that show that the public sector is consolidated as the labor alternative preferred by the Spaniards. 68% of men and 72% of women would abandon stable job in the private sector to access a place in the public sector. Details about this decision reveal that 30% of public sector employees have had more than ten contracts in the private sector in their working life before presenting an opposition, compared to 15% of private sector workers. The data on working life in the sector could be an indicative that the public sector has become a refuge value against the excesses suffered for those employees during their stage in the private sector. In Xataka Some researchers have analyzed the working day in Spain: the same thing that 40 years ago is worked, but in worse jobs An increasingly attractive option. According to the study, one in two Spaniards considers that today opposing is a more attractive job option than it was a decade ago, evidencing a significant change in the perception of the public sector against the private. This statement takes on special strength in the age strip of between 18 and 24 years with 54% who thinks and between 25 and 34 years with 52%. In addition, this trend is more marked in some autonomous communities. In the Basque Country and Murcia, about 80% of workers would be willing to change the public sector, while in Madrid this figure descends to 57%. This regional contrast reflects differences, economic, labor and social that influence the perception of public and private employment. The key: salaries. The stability offered by public employment is one of the key factors that drives this preference. The data suggest that 44% of Spaniards would change the public sector Looking for better salariesespecially those of the age strip between 25 and 34 years, which amounts to 46%. The data support them, since according to A report From the Bank of Spain, salaries in the public sector exceed 24.97% to those of the private sector, exceeding the European average that marks an 8% gap between the salaries of the public and private sector. In addition, according to data from the Active Population Surveyfour out of ten Spaniards do not charge the overtime worked, which deepens the problem. In Xataka A painful comparison: what a computer engineer charges in Spain against what their counterparts in Europe charge Conciliation and job stability. Another factors that are subtracting competitiveness from the private sector in front of the public sector are labor conciliation and stability measures. 89% of respondents affirm that the public sector offers better labor conciliation measures and reduction of working hours, in which a progressive hardening of return policies to the office and Reduction of teleworking options. In addition, 40% of young people aged 18 to 24 see in the public sector a labor guarantee that It would allow them to become independent With stability that they have not found in the private sector, while 37% suggest that the public sector allows them to consider a family. On the other hand, 50% of the strip of between 44 and 55 years highlights its preference for the public sector as a way to access better retirement that would obtain it in the private sector, due to higher salary bases. {“Videid”: “X919SE0”, “Autoplay”: False, “Title”: “The AI ​​and the future of our work Silvia Rivela | 100 years, 100 visions Ep.3”, “Tag”: “”, “Duration”: “2630”} A touch of alert to the private sector. The public sector has accelerated its Post of call for new places public in forecast of the Aging of its template of officials, that He will retire at a rate of 100,000 officials a year in the next ten years. With this massive demand, the private sector runs the risk of lose the best talent for not offering adequate working and salary conditions to offer greater stability. With this scenario, structural change is not only an option, but a need to balance forces and build a more sustainable and competitive labor market in the future. In Xataka | The public sector as a refuge for employees undervalued by private companies: 45% of opponents already have a job In Xataka | The four -day week is unfeasible for many companies. An alternative: work less hours, no less days Image | Pickpik (Function () {Window._js_modules = Window._js_modules || {}; var headelement = document.getelegsbytagname (‘head’) (0); if (_js_modules.instagram) {var instagramscript = Document.Createlement (‘script’); }}) (); – The news The great drama of private employment in Spain: almost everyone would sacrifice him for being an official It was originally posted in Xataka by Rubén Andrés .

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.