Overview
- Data from September 30 show the Seguridad Social added 92,327 affiliates in September 2026, taking active workers to 22.43 million and recording 421,306 people registered into employment through the regularization process.
- About 84,000 of September’s new affiliates were foreign-born, with large shares coming from Colombia and Venezuela and roughly 71% of regularized hires originating in Latin America.
- The SEPE reported registered unemployment rose by 23,587 in September to 2.37 million and registered 87,523 new claimants in the three months after the regularization application deadline, a spike linked in part to newly legalized people signing up for job-seeker services.
- Sector and regional data show education rehiring led gains with roughly 63,499 new posts, while Madrid and Catalonia contributed the largest absolute affiliate increases and tourism-dependent regions saw typical post-season job losses.
- The influx has raised formal contributions and returned the worker-to-pensioner ratio to about 2.5, yet it also creates short-term friction for benefit systems and local labor markets as newly documented workers seek stable matches and clarify eligibility for support.