The Social Security surpassed in July the threshold of 22.5 million affiliates by recording a monthly average of 41,727 more employed than in June (+0.19%), according to the data released this Tuesday by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration.
With this advance, the average number of contributors stands at 22,508,065 people. According to the Ministry, daily affiliation remained above 22.5 million between the 8th and 30th of July, with the only exception being the 10th.
In the last twelve months, from July 2025 to July 2026, the system has incorporated 642,562 affiliates on average, which represents a year-on-year increase of 2.9%, the highest job creation rate since April 2023.
If seasonal and calendar effects are eliminated, the number of contributors increased by 79,567 people in the month (+0.36%), marking 66 consecutive months of increases and setting a new maximum of 22,288,120 affiliates in seasonally adjusted series.
"The labor market is growing at an exceptional rate so far in 2026," pointed out the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration, Elma Saiz, who highlights that this growth can be observed in year-on-year terms but also in the first seven months of the year, when 663,652 more affiliates to Social Security have been counted."
Health activities drive employment
By regimes, the General, the most numerous in the system, added 40,016 average affiliates in July (+0.21%), reaching 18.96 million employed. In contrast, the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers (RETA) reduced its number by 103 contributors, leaving the total number of self-employed workers at 3,472,357, slightly below the maximum of 3,472,460 recorded the previous month. Compared to July 2025, there are 57,984 more self-employed workers registered, a 1.7% increase.
Within the General Regime, health activities and social services recorded the largest monthly increase in affiliation, with 57,446 new employed (+2.84%), followed by commerce, which added 50,100 contributors (+1.95%), and hospitality, which added 23,999 average affiliates (+1.4%).
Conversely, the end of the school year caused education to lose 124,506 affiliates compared to June (-9.45%).
The Special Agricultural System cut 40,605 contributors in the month (-6.09%), while the Special System for Domestic Employees added 5,156 employed (+1.4%).
Differences by sex and active aging
The average affiliation of men increased in July by 0.71%, with 84,163 new employed, reaching a total of 11,930,025, which represents a new historical maximum.
On the contrary, female affiliation decreased by 0.4%, with 42,437 fewer employed women, so the total number of affiliates stood at 10,578,040, the lowest level since April, after two consecutive months of setting records.
In the last year, male affiliation has grown by 335,751 contributors and by 1.62 million since 2018, while female affiliation adds 306,811 more employed than in July 2025 and 1.84 million additional since 2018.
Women currently represent 47% of the total affiliates, more than one point above the weight they had in 2018. Their participation in the labor market increases at an annual rate of 2.99% compared to July 2025, according to the Department led by Elma Saiz.
When studying the evolution of employment in the last eight years, greater dynamism is observed both in the older group, aged 55 and over, and among the younger ones. Employment for older individuals has advanced by 51.7%, nearing 5 million workers, while that of those under 30 has risen by 33.6% since 2018, reaching 3.9 million. These increases exceed by 33.5 and 15.4 percentage points, respectively, the average growth of the total, which stands at 18.2%.
Record of foreign affiliates
The number of foreign contributors increased by 66,046 people compared to June, a 1.91% increase, reaching a historical maximum of 3.51 million. They are 420,875 more affiliates than a year ago and represent 15.6% of the total contributors.
Saiz has highlighted that foreign affiliates "continue to play an essential role in the dynamism of the labor market and in sustaining the Social Security system."
Taking July 30 as a reference, the regularized foreign affiliates through the extraordinary process totaled 262,475. On that same day, the total number of affiliates stood at 22,502,259.
Of those 262,475 contributors, 81.5% (213,883) were classified under the General Regime, while 12,675 (4.8%) were self-employed workers. By sex, 60.3% were men (158,171) and 39.7% women (104,304).
Less temporality and more indefinite contracts
In terms of employment quality, since July 2021, 4.8 million affiliates with indefinite contracts have been added, and the number of workers with temporary contracts has decreased by 2.03 million.
"There are increasingly more stable jobs, with more rights and better salaries," the Ministry has pointed out, emphasizing that the largest increase corresponds to those employed with full-time indefinite contracts, with 327,471 more than a year ago, while affiliates with part-time contracts grow by 70,087.
The weight of temporary salaried workers stands at 13.4%, well below the 29.4% they represented in July 2021. "This improvement is even more remarkable among workers under 30 years old, who have a temporary rate of 23.7%, when five years ago they had a rate of 54.8%," highlights Social Security.
Workers aged 30 and under have increased by 34.6% since July 2021: there are 999,923 more, totaling 3,893,353, a growth that comfortably exceeds the average increase of 14.9%.
The ratio of contributors to pensioners remains at 2.5, the highest level since 2011.
Behavior by communities and ERTE
The average affiliation increased in July in 11 autonomous communities compared to the previous month, with particular intensity in Catalonia (+16,529 employed), Balearic Islands (+15,843), and Galicia (+12,916).
In contrast, it decreased in six regions: Andalusia (-6,948), Aragon (-1,263), Canary Islands (-3,293), Community of Madrid (-25,808), Basque Country (-2,386), and La Rioja (-982).
Additionally, the Ministry reported that the number of workers affected by temporary employment regulation files (ERTE) at the end of July rose to 12,444. Of these, 2,195 were in ERTE due to force majeure, 6,804 in an ERTE for economic, technical, organizational, or production causes (ETOP), and 3,445 under the Automotive Red Mechanism.
Additional multimedia content: interactive graph on the evolution of Social Security affiliates in Spain, available at the following embed 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