The Social Security incorporated on average 211,510 contributors in March compared to February (+1%), an advance driven mainly by the hospitality sector, which added almost 80,000 workers due to hirings prior to Easter Week, according to data released this Monday by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration.
The rebound in employment registered last month constitutes the largest increase in a month of March since records began and raises the average affiliation to a historical high for this period, with 21,882,147 employed. According to the Ministry, daily affiliation remained above 21.9 million people between March 16 and 30.
In the last twelve months, from March 2025 to March 2026, Social Security has incorporated 524,501 affiliates in average terms, which represents a year-on-year growth of 2.4%.
If seasonal effects are eliminated, the number of contributors advanced in March by 80,274 people (+0.4%), which allowed the system to exceed the barrier of 22 million employed people for the first time, reaching a total of 22,010,532 affiliates, that is, 523,579 more than in March 2025.
"We have surpassed the historic milestone of 22 million Social Security affiliates, after adding 2.2 million jobs since the labor reform and 3.3 million since 2018. In less than two years we have added an average of two million affiliates," highlighted the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz.
Before 9:00 a.m., at which time the Ministry makes the data public, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, had already announced on his social media that Spain had reached 22 million employed people in March for the first time in its history, without clarifying that it was the seasonally adjusted figure. He launched the message wearing a Spanish national football team jersey with the number 22 on his back, in allusion to those 22 million employed people.
The hospitality industry leads job creation
By regimes, the General, the broadest of the system, added in March 194,217 average affiliates (+1.07%), reaching 18.39 million employed. The Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers (RETA) gained 14,920 contributors (+0.4%), reaching a new maximum of 3,429,534 self-employed people. Compared to March 2025, there are 40,286 more self-employed contributing to Social Security (+1.2%).
Within the General Regime, the hospitality sector registered the largest increase in affiliation compared to the previous month, with 79,701 new employed persons (+5.6%), ahead of administrative activities, which incorporated 17,206 contributors (+1.2%), and construction, which gained an average of 17,156 affiliates (+1.7%).
In the Special Agrarian System, 3,895 new registrations were recorded (+0.6%), while in the Special System for Domestic Employees, there were 3,886 de-registrations (-1.1%).
During March, close to 10.4 million female affiliates have been recorded, the highest level of the entire historical series, in addition to a maximum in the affiliation of foreign workers, who for the first time exceed 3.15 million.