Catalonia has registered a new historical peak in Social Security affiliates during July, with a total of 4,024,750 individuals. This figure consolidates, for the second consecutive month, affiliation above the four million threshold in the autonomous community. Compared to July of the previous year, the increase is 112,405 affiliates, representing a 2.9% rise. Regarding June, 16,529 new affiliates have been added, a 0.4% increase.
Regarding unemployment, Catalonia has experienced a slight upturn in July compared to June, with 7,705 more people registered as unemployed, thus breaking the downward trend of previous months. However, the total number of unemployed is the lowest recorded for a July since 2007. In year-on-year comparison, there has been a reduction of 4,549 unemployed, a 1.4% decrease.
Unemployment has increased in all Catalan provinces between June and July. Lleida leads this rise with 3.4% more unemployed, reaching 15,662. It is followed by Barcelona (+2.6%), Tarragona (+2.2%), and Girona (+1.9%). In the year-on-year comparison, only Lleida shows a slight increase in unemployment (2%), while the rest of the provinces continue to decline: Girona (-4.2%), Tarragona (-1.6%), and Barcelona (-1.3%).
The increase in Social Security affiliation in Catalonia during July continues the growth trend that began in February, albeit with less intensity than in previous months, such as April, when a rise of up to 1.3% was recorded.
At the state level, the growth in affiliation over the past year has been significantly driven by the increase in foreign workers, especially after the regularization process that concluded in June. Between March and July, foreign affiliates in Spain grew by 360,660 people (+11.4%), representing more than half of the total Social Security growth in this period.
