Spain once again surpasses the barrier of three million unpaid overtime hours worked each week. The latest data from the Active Population Survey (EPA) shows that during the second quarter of 2026, workers averaged 7.18 million extra hours per week, an increase of 2.48% compared to the same period of the previous year and the highest volume recorded since the comparable series began in 2011.
The problem is not only that the time worked outside of regular hours is increasing. Of those 7.18 million hours, 3.09 million were unpaid, equivalent to approximately 43% of the total. Unpaid overtime hours increased by 9.6% year-on-year, while those that were compensated decreased by 2.3%, settling around four million weekly.
The rise comes precisely when the Ministry of Labor is trying to push forward one of its pending projects: to tighten the time registration so that all companies have a digital, reliable, and accessible system for Labor Inspection. The reform was supposed to be approved before the summer, but discrepancies with the Economy and a very critical report from the Council of State delayed its processing. Labor and Economy finally agreed to resume the text in September.
Unpaid overtime hours increase by 9.6%
The jump compared to the first quarter is even more pronounced, although part of that difference responds to the seasonality of the labor market. Between January and March, 5.89 million weekly overtime hours were recorded; between April and June, there were 7.18 million, representing an increase close to 21%. In the specific case of unpaid hours, the quarterly increase reaches 23%.
The situation varies greatly by sector. The industry records the largest overall volume, with about 976,000 extra hours weekly, although 703,000 are paid. It is followed by health activities, with about 947,300 hours, of which 806,000 are paid. In hospitality, approximately 698,200 overtime hours are performed each week, and almost half remain unpaid: about 326,800.
The most striking data appears in education. Of the 682,200 extraordinary hours counted weekly in the sector, approximately 588,900, 84%, do not receive remuneration. According to calculations by CCOO collected by EFE, six activities concentrate 62% of all unpaid extra hours: education, hospitality, manufacturing industry, commerce, professional activities, and Public Administration.
What Trabajo wants to change with the time registration
The daily work registration is already mandatory, but the Ministry considers that the current model allows for systems that are too different between companies and makes it difficult to verify if the hours actually worked match those declared. Hence, the reform promoted by the department of Yolanda Díaz aims to replace that scheme with a digital, objective, reliable, and difficult to manipulate registration.
One of the central changes would be that the Labor Inspection could access the register remotely, without the need to physically go to the company to verify the workday. The purpose is for inspectors to more easily contrast the entry and exit hours and detect excess hours or unpaid or uncompensated overtime.
Trabajo maintains that strengthening control is necessary precisely because the EPA figures show that millions of hours continue to be left out of payrolls and contributions. The second vice president has assured that the reform will go ahead and even stated before the summer that it would be approved "even if it's the last thing I do."
Why it has not yet been approved
The regulatory path is proving more complicated than expected. The Council of State issued an unfavorable opinion in March and questioned several elements of the project. Among other objections, it considered the regulation on personal data protection insufficient and doubted that some of the new obligations could be introduced through a royal decree without broader legal coverage.
The advisory body also questioned the economic impact of the mandatory implementation of digital systems for companies. The employers' association CEOE also opposes the project and has indicated its intention to challenge it legally if it is approved in the proposed terms, arguing both privacy issues and the cost it would entail, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Within the Executive itself, there have also been differences. The Ministry of Economy, led by Carlos Cuerpo, has argued that SMEs should have a transition period that could last up to a year. At the end of July, Labor and Economy considered their disagreements resolved and agreed to postpone the approval until September with the aim of introducing the necessary adjustments following the opinion of the Council of State.
The registry does not itself reduce the working day
The reform of time control must be differentiated from another of the major projects defended by Labor: the reduction of the working day. The aim of the new registry is not to automatically modify the maximum number of hours a person can work, but to have a more precise mechanism to know how much they actually work and to check if the excesses are paid or compensated according to the regulations.
The issue becomes relevant because the volume of overtime has reached record highs. Spain performs 7.18 million overtime hours each week and more than three million remain unpaid, according to the latest available data. The discussion that will reopen in September will therefore be about how far the Government can go through a regulation to control those working hours and what guarantees must be established for workers and companies.
Labor maintains the core of its proposal intact: digital clocking and access for the Inspection to the registry to make it difficult for the hours worked to disappear from official control. However, before it can be implemented, it will have to overcome legal objections, business resistances, and definitively close the agreement within the Government.