Spain Leads EU Employment Growth in 2025

Spain became the main driver of employment growth in the European Union in 2025. According to Eurostat data, the country created 526,000 new jobs over the year, accounting for about 41% of all jobs added in the EU during this period. At the same time, Spain is only the fourth most populous country in the EU, yet its labour market showed the strongest growth.

Employment growth was recorded in 14 out of 27 EU countries. In total, about 1.3 million jobs were created across these countries. After Spain, France made the second-largest contribution with around 300,000 new jobs. Portugal ranked third with 174,000 new jobs. At the same time, the Portuguese economy showed faster relative employment growth at 3.6%, compared to 2.5% in Spain.

Meanwhile, several EU countries faced a decline in employment. The most significant drop occurred in Germany, where 327,000 jobs were lost over the year. Job losses were also recorded in Hungary (–56,000), Romania (–38,000), and 10 other countries. Altogether, these countries lost 504,000 jobs, which, combined with the 1.3 million jobs created in growing labour markets, resulted in a net increase of 790,000 jobs.

However, this is the weakest employment growth since the financial crisis, excluding 2020, when the labour market sharply contracted due to the pandemic. For comparison, around 1.5 million jobs were created in the EU in 2024, and 1.7 million in 2023.

The strong performance of the Spanish labour market is linked to steady economic growth. In 2025, the country’s economy grew by approximately 2.8%, and forecasts for 2026 remain positive. The Bank of Spain expects growth of around 2.2%.

Despite active job creation, Spain remains one of the EU countries with a high unemployment rate. According to Eurostat, in January 2026, unemployment stood at around 9.8%, nearly twice the EU average (5.8%). Nevertheless, this figure fell below 10% for the first time since 2008.