After the great crisis of 2008-2013, when unemployment exceeded 26%, the Spanish job market recovered. In 2025 the unemployment rate fell to around 10.5%, the lowest since 2008, though still among the highest in the European Union, especially among the young. The number of workers registered with Social Security passed 21 million. See the Spanish economy and the Italy-Spain comparison.
Sectors
- Tourism and hospitality: the sector with most jobs, including seasonal ones, especially on the coasts and islands (see seasonal work).
- Technology and digital: Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Málaga host tech hubs and centres of large multinationals.
- Business services and multilingual customer service: many service centres look for native speakers of other European languages, especially in Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia and Málaga.
- Healthcare: doctors and nurses are in demand in some regions.
- Renewable energy, logistics, agri-food and construction.
- Language teaching and translation.
Contracts and pay
The 2021 labour reform made the permanent contract (indefinido) the norm, restricting temporary contracts; the fijo discontinuo is used for recurring seasonal work. Salaries are usually quoted as gross annual and often paid in 14 instalments, with two pagas extra in June and December, or in 12 with the extras spread out. The minimum wage for 2026 is 1,221 euros gross a month over 14 payments, or 17,094 euros a year. Average salaries are lower than in central Europe and vary greatly by region: Madrid, Catalonia and the Basque Country pay more.
Every worker is registered with Seguridad Social, covering pensions, healthcare, unemployment and sickness. The standard working week is 40 hours, with at least 30 days' annual leave; in summer many companies work a jornada intensiva, a continuous morning shift.
How to look for work
- Portals: InfoJobs, the most used in Spain, LinkedIn, Indeed, InfoEmpleo and Tecnoempleo for IT.
- The public employment services of the autonomous communities (SEPE and regional offices) and the European EURES network.
- Temporary employment agencies (empresas de trabajo temporal) such as Adecco and Randstad.
- Speculative applications and word of mouth, very important especially in small businesses.
Prepare a short CV in Spanish (see how to write a CV and the cover letter). For some regulated professions, such as doctor, lawyer, engineer or teacher, you need recognition of your qualification (homologación) from the relevant ministry.
For young people
Those starting out can try internships, European programmes such as Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps, seasonal work and opportunities for multilingual speakers (see young people and work). For the moving procedures see moving to Spain.