Labour market - Q1 2025

The labour input, as measured by hours worked, increases compared both to the previous quarter (+1.0%) and to the first quarter of 2024 (+1.1%). In the same period GDP increased by 0.3% quarter-on-quarter and by 0.7% year-on-year.

Compared to the fourth quarter 2024, the number of employed people grows by 141 thousand units (+0.6%), due to the increase in permanent employees (+143 thousand, +0.9%) and self-employed (+18 thousand, +0.3%), which more than offsets the decrease in fixed-term employees (-20 thousand, -0.8%). The number of unemployed grows (+16 thousand, +1.0% over three months), while the number of inactive people aged 15-64 decreases (-157 thousand, -1.3%). This dynamic is reflected in the rise in the employment rate, that reaches 62.7% (+0.4 points over three months), in the stability of the unemployment rate, that remains unchanged at 6.1%, and in the decrease in inactivity rate, that falls to 33.1% (-0.4 points). In the provisional monthly data for April, compared to the previous month, the stability in the number of employed people (and the correspondent rate) pairs off the decrease in unemployment rate (-0.2 points) and the slightly growth in inactivity rate (+0.1 points).

Compared to the first quarter of 2024 the increase in employed people continues (+432 thousand, +1.8% over one year), due to the growth in permanent employees (+4.0%) as opposed to the decrease in fixed-term employees (-6.7%) and self-employed (-0.4%). The decline in the number of unemployed continues (-217 thousand in one year, -11.0%) while, following the growth observed over two trimesters, the number of inactive people between 15 and 64 years decreases (-95 thousand, -0.8%). This trend is reflected in the growth of employment rate (+0.9 points compared to the first quarter 2024) and in the decrease in unemployment and inactivity rates (-0.9 and -0.3 points respectively).

On the enterprise side, total jobs and full-time jobs grow by 0.6% on a quarterly basis; the increase is slightly lower for part-time employees, at 0.5%. On an annual basis total and full-time jobs increase by 1.9% and part-time by 1.6%.

The hours worked per employee show an increase on a quarterly basis (+0.3%) while decreasing on annual basis (-0.8%). The use of short-time working allowances decreases to 7.8 hours per 1,000 hours worked -0.1 hours per 1,000 hours worked with respect to the first quarter 2024). The job vacancy rate decreases both compared to previous quarter (-0.1 percentage points) and with respect to the same quarter of the previous year (-0.3 percentage points).

On a quarterly basis, total labour cost increases significantly by 1.5%, due to a 1.3% growth in wages and a stronger increase in social contributions of 2.2%. Compared to the first quarter of 2024, labour cost increases by a notable 4.6%, due to a significant increase in both wages (+4.1%) and social contributions (+6.3%). Besides the positive impact of renewed National Contracts on wages, the weakening of some social security relief measures is the main cause of the substantial rise in contributions.