2025 finished with slight increase in unemployment rate, but also with a record number of jobs

Catalonia closed 2025 with a slight increase in the unemployment rate, up to 8.24%, but also with a record number of people in jobs at the end of the year, with 3.91 million people working.

This comes from data from the fourth quarter of the Active Population Survey (EPA), published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) this Tuesday.

The unemployment indicator has grown by 0.4 percentage points compared to the end of 2024 (7.78%), and has also increased slightly compared to the previous quarter, when it was at 8.18%.

The number of jobs in Catalonia has decreased compared to the previous period, with 37,300 fewer jobs in Q4 compared with Q3 of 2025. Yet, the number of jobs for Q4 is a new record, with 3.91 million workers, which is 57,200 more than a year ago.

The unemployment trend in Catalonia differs from that of the rest of Spain, as the state unemployment rate has decreased by 0.5 percentage points year-on-year, falling below the 10% barrier for the first time since 2008.