Unemployment in Spain closed 2024 with significant decreases in most of the autonomous communities, according to data from the Ministry of Labor. However, Navarra broke the upward trend, becoming the only region where unemployment rose by 1.22% in year-on-year terms, while the Balearic Islands stands out with a 4.78% drop in unemployment.
Incidence of unemployment in Navarre and the rest of the country
The report reveals that communities such as Extremadura, Andalusia and Galicia managed to reduce unemployment by more than 8%, which places these regions as the most outstanding in the improvement of the labor market. In contrast, Navarra not only showed an annual increase in unemployment, but also experienced an increase of 0.57% during December, a trend opposite to the general picture in the country.
With 30,355 unemployed at year-end, the region remains one of the least affected by unemployment in absolute terms, but the relative growth reflects a structural challenge that contrasts with the national recovery.
Data in the Balearic Islands
In the Balearic Islands, unemployment fell by 3.53% in December and by 4.78% in the whole of 2024, consolidating its position as one of the regions with the best performance in this indicator. With 30,192 unemployed at the end of the year, the community maintains its position among the regions with the lowest unemployment rate, although challenges persist in certain sectors due to the seasonality of employment in the archipelago. The improvement in the Balearic Islands coincides with an outstanding growth in Social Security affiliation, which rose by 3.19% in 2024, exceeding the national average of 2.41%. This increase reflects the dynamism of the Balearic labor market, driven mainly by the recovery of tourism and the services sector.
A mixed national context
At the national level, unemployment fell by 5.42 % in 2024, with a total of 146,738 fewer unemployed than in the previous year. Andalusia led the decrease with 60,101 fewer unemployed, representing more than 40% of the total reduction in the country. In terms of Social Security registrations, growth was led by Madrid, which contributed more than 114,000 new workers, followed by Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Valencia. These data confirm a gradual recovery of the labor market in a large part of Spain.
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