Spain began 2024 with 231,250 people employed on the January slope that typically marks the start of each year, with total active payrolls around 20.6 million. That figure isn’t alarming, especially since Social Security membership often dips in the early months. Compared with other periods, this pace of hiring in early 2024 sits near the lower end of the spectrum since 2020, when the COVID-19 crisis pushed the labor market into a sharp slowdown.
After a record-breaking 2023, during which Social Security contributions rose by more than half a million, the January 2024 data align with the anticipated cooling for the year. Even with a temporary decline in job numbers this month, the overall outlook remains positive, though job creation is expected to be less vigorous. In short, the labor market should stay steady and productive, but without the earlier burst of momentum.
This assessment is supported by seasonally adjusted employment data, the measure Social Security uses to smooth out calendar quirks that can distort trends. By their measure, employment rose in January, signaling a positive direction while staying cautious. The monthly increase stands at around 0.2 percent, reflecting a cautious but hopeful trajectory.
Sales are gradually weakening
Employment declined across all sectors in January, with no single industry escaping the overall downturn. The most pronounced losses appeared in the accommodation sector (minus 46,594), followed by trade (minus 45,093) and administrative activities (minus 42,552). While the absolute declines were sizable, they were broadly in line with the same month a year earlier. The end of the Christmas campaign and the pattern of post-holiday terminations continued to shape the quarterly statistics as usual.
January tends to ease hiring as retail patterns shift, and the intense post-holiday spending surge—driven by events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday—fades. Retail demand cools, which reduces the hiring spike typically seen after the holidays, helping to redistribute labor more evenly across the year.
The latest labor reform also contributes to a steadier hiring environment. Over the last two years, firms have adopted more stable employment relationships, mirroring the reform’s aims. This shift makes the job market less prone to abrupt shifts, supporting smoother, longer-term hiring trends.
The self-employed segment showed resilience but also faced a reduction in numbers, though to a lesser extent than wage earners. January closed with 16,949 fewer self-employed workers than in the previous January, bringing the total to about 3.3 million self-employed individuals. RETA members have generally navigated the transitional period of 2023, during which a new performance-based quota system was introduced. On balance, employment dynamics have not shown a major disruption from this reform, statistically speaking.
Andalusia bears the brunt of job losses
Andalusia registered the largest decline in contributors in the opening month of the year, with 43,624 fewer employed workers than in December. Sector-wide job losses translated into regional weakness as well, and no region escaped the red numbers. Catalonia experienced a downturn similar to the national trend, though its decline was somewhat less severe. In Catalonia, the January figure fell by nearly 35,000 compared with its strongest months, marking a softer pullback than the national average.
At a provincial level, Catalonia still recorded 28,135 more employees overall, but the broader drop in Social Security membership was mirrored in Madrid, Spain’s other economic driver. Aragon proved the most resilient among regions, with employment losses limited to about 0.7 percent, versus the national average decline around 1.1 percent. These regional patterns highlight how local industries and seasonal cycles shape the national labor picture, even as the headline figures tell a common story of a cooling start to the year.
Overall, the January data illustrate a labor market that is muting its prior intensity but maintaining underlying momentum. The balance between temporary declines and longer-term gains suggests that Spain’s economy remains on a path of gradual stabilization rather than a sharp rebound or a steep downturn. This nuanced picture resonates in both official statistics and the lived experiences of workers transitioning into steadier employment frameworks. [Source: Social Security data and national labor statistics, with routine revisions for seasonality and regional adjustments.]