The Social Security added on average in September 92,327 contributors more than in August (+0.41%), reaching 22,437,553 workers, according to data released this Friday by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, which emphasizes that this is the largest increase recorded in a month of September since statistics have existed.
In the last twelve months, the system has incorporated 739,888 affiliates in the original series, which represents a year-on-year increase of 3.41%. Compared to 2018, the average affiliation has already accumulated a growth of over 3.57 million employed.
In seasonally adjusted terms, the number of contributors increased by 108,832 people compared to August, marking a new maximum of 22,480,796 affiliates. Thus, there are 68 consecutive months of increases, reaching the highest level of the entire series, that is, more than five and a half years of continuous increases.
The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, has emphasized that for a good part of September, the daily records were above 22.5 million employed, which, in her opinion, "forecasts a trend of growth in the labor market that will be maintained in the coming months."
In addition, she pointed out that on September 28 "the daily records reached their highest level, with 22,576,593 affiliates, there has never been so many people working in Spain."
Saiz also highlighted the progress of female employment, which already exceeds 10.5 million affiliates, as well as the consolidation of permanent contracts, given that more than 15 million workers currently have a stable contract.
She also valued the weight of foreign workers, who exceed 3.6 million affiliates and represent more than 16% of the labor force in Spain. In this context, the minister emphasized that the extraordinary regularization is being "a key piece."
The regularization adds more than 420,000 affiliates to the system
As part of the extraordinary regularization process for foreign individuals, Social Security had counted 421,306 affiliates linked to this measure as of September 30, which implies 83,389 more than at the end of August.
By nationalities, Colombia tops the list of countries with the most affiliates from the regularization, with 118,485 people, followed by Venezuela, with 71,999, so together they account for almost half of the total.
By regimes, 77.4% of these regularized workers (326,256 people) were classified in the General Regime, while 22,681 (5.4%) did so as self-employed.
Regarding the distribution by sex, 60.2% were men (253,490) and 39.8% women (167,815).
Education drives affiliation in the General Regime
By regimes, the General incorporated 80,397 average affiliates in September (+0.43%), bringing the total to 18,888,481 employed, and adds 668,944 more workers in the last year (+3.67%).
The Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers (RETA) reached 3,483,645 average affiliates, after growing by 14,229 employed compared to the previous month (+0.41%) and by 70,353 compared to a year ago (+2.06%).
Within the General Regime, education led the increases in affiliation with 60,323 additional contributors (5.41%), coinciding with the start of the school year, followed by administrative activities and auxiliary services (+36,557 affiliates, +2.4%) and professional, scientific, and technical activities (+10,013, +1.03%).
On the contrary, decreases were recorded in commerce, which lost 39,153 contributors (-1.5%); in hospitality, with 19,570 fewer affiliates (-1.12%); and in public administration and defense, mandatory social security, which reduced its number by 12,178 employed (-0.98%).
Strong advance of female employment and foreign workers
The monthly increase in affiliation occurred among both men and women, although the rise was much more intense among the latter: the number of female affiliates grew by 90,859 (+0.86%), bringing the total to 10,580,201.
"These figures are extraordinary news because it means we are getting closer to the real equalization of the participation of men and women in the labor market," the minister has pointed out.
In the case of men, affiliation advanced by 1,468 (+0.01%), reaching a total of 11,857,352 contributors.
In year-on-year terms, male affiliation has increased by 394,314 employed (+3.44%) and adds almost 1.7 million more since 2018 (+16.35%), while female affiliation has increased by 345,574 employed since September 2025 (+3.37%) and by 1,881,872 affiliates (+21.63%) since 2018. Women now represent 47.15% of the total affiliates, one percentage point more than in 2018, and their participation in the labor market is growing at a year-on-year rate of 3.38%.
For their part, foreign workers gained 84,220 contributors compared to August (+2.3%), reaching an average of 3,635,979 employed, surpassing for the first time the barrier of 3.6 million employees from other countries.
Compared to September 2025, the affiliation of immigrants has increased by 547,638 contributors (+17.73%) and now accounts for 16.2% of the total system.
By age groups, the greatest dynamism is concentrated among those under 30 years old and among workers aged 55 or older. Employment among the younger ones has advanced by 34.1% since 2021, while among the older ones it has increased by 29.2%. These percentages exceed by 19.2 and 14.3 points, respectively, the average growth of the total affiliates, which stands at 14.9%.
Temporary employment drops to 12.5% and improves the quality of employment
In terms of employment quality, since September 2021 there are 4,859,884 more workers with permanent contracts and 2,047,451 fewer affiliates with temporary contracts.
The greatest progress occurs among those with full-time permanent contracts, with 338,317 more employed than a year ago, while affiliates with part-time permanent contracts increase by 90,770.
The weight of temporary workers now stands at 12.5%, well below the 28.4% they represented in September 2021.
Among those under 30 years old, the temporary employment rate is 23.7%, compared to the 54.9% recorded five years ago.
The Social Security has also pointed out that the ratio between contributors and pensioners currently reaches 2.51, the highest level since 2011.
Affiliation falls in eight communities and rises in the rest
The average affiliation decreased in September in eight autonomous communities compared to August, with the largest drops in Balearic Islands (-11,326), Galicia (-6,516), Cantabria (-5,466), and Asturias (-5,309).
In contrast, it increased in nine communities and in the two autonomous cities, with the Community of Madrid (+55,861) and Catalonia (+38,014) leading the increases.
Finally, the number of workers included in temporary employment regulation files (ERTE) stood at 11,888 people at the end of September (12,149 on average for the month). Of them, 2,270 were in a force majeure ERTE, 6,619 in an ERTE for economic, technical, organizational, or production causes (ETOP), and 2,999 in the RED automotive mechanism.
Multimedia content: Interactive graphic on the evolution of Social Security affiliates in Spain. Total average affiliates to Social Security in Spain. Insertion URL: https://www.epdata.es/evolucion-de-los-afiliados-a-la-seguridad-social-total-de-afiliados-medios-a-la-seguridad-social-en-espana/b967e0d4-100a-4ff7-866c-f9435a1e9e49