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Spain’s jobs market reached a new milestone in September, with the number of people registered with Social Security climbing to a record 22.44 million.

 

The total rose by 92,327 during the month, making it the strongest September increase on record. It is also around three times the rise seen in September 2015.

 

A large part of that jump came from foreign workers. Of the roughly 92,000 new registrations, 84,220 were foreign nationals, more than four times the increase recorded in September last year.

 

Spain’s foreign workforce was already at a record high before these latest employment figures were published.

 

The rise has been strongly linked to the migrant regularisation process which began in April. The government says the scheme has already led to 421,306 new Social Security registrations by foreign workers.

 

Many of those jobs may not be entirely new. The figures are also bringing employment which had previously been part of the informal economy into the official system, giving workers access to Social Security protection. Almost 1.2 million applications had been submitted by the time the process closed in June, so the impact is expected to continue appearing in the months ahead as cases are dealt with.

 

September also usually brings a lift for employment as schools reopen, and this year was no exception. Education added around 63,500 workers, many returning to their posts after the summer break.

 

That helped offset the usual seasonal losses in tourism-related work. Retail shed around 40,000 jobs during the month, while hospitality lost a further 21,885 as the summer holiday season drew to a close.

There was, however, a less positive side to the latest figures. Registered unemployment rose by 23,587 in September, its sharpest increase for that month in almost a decade.

 

Much of that increase came from migrants registering as jobseekers without previous employment, often a necessary step before a company can formally take them on. Even so, the total number of people registered as unemployed stands at 2,379,505, the lowest September figure since 2007.

 

The combination of a record workforce and rising jobseeker numbers may sound contradictory, but it reflects the scale of the regularisation process now working its way through the system. For many people, it marks the first time their work or job search has appeared in the official figures.

 

 

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