The OECD highlights the improvement of the Spanish labour market in 2026, but warns that unemployment, at 10.3%, remains the highest among the major economies of the organisation, and real wages are still 2% below 2021.
The Spanish labour market continues to show signs of recovery, but the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) focuses on two pending issues: the high unemployment rate and wage stagnation. This is reflected in the report OECD Employment Outlook 2026, published this Tuesday from its headquarters in Paris.
Unemployment falls, but remains the highest in the OECD
According to the organisation, the unemployment rate in Spain fell to 10.3% in May 2026, down from 10.6% in the same month the previous year. However, the OECD emphasises that this figure is double the organisation's average, which stands at 4.9%, and is the highest among the major economies that comprise it.
“Despite this sustained improvement, unemployment remains the main challenge for the Spanish economy,” warns the report. The employment rate among the population aged 15 to 64 reached 67.3% in the first quarter of 2026, 0.7 percentage points higher than a year earlier, but still 4.8 points below the OECD average.
On the positive side, the activity rate marked a historic high of 75.1%, approaching the organisation's average (76.7%). Employment has grown continuously since the Covid-19 crisis, although the pace of job creation has not managed to close the gap with the more advanced countries.
Real wages: still 2% below 2021
One of the most critical points of the report is the evolution of wages. The OECD points out that, although real wages grew by 2% in the last year, they are still 2% lower than in the first quarter of 2021. This places Spain among the OECD economies where wages have fallen the most since the pandemic.
The organisation highlights that this decline occurs despite “significant increases in the minimum wage, which have protected low-income workers against inflation.” However, the stagnation of labour productivity over the last decade hampers any sustained wage recovery.
Short-term prospects are not encouraging. The OECD anticipates that real wages will not rebound throughout 2026 and 2027, due to renewed inflationary pressures and low productivity growth. For Spanish workers, this means that purchasing power will take time to recover to pre-pandemic levels.
Companies more reactive to crises
The report also analyses the behaviour of Spanish companies in the face of economic fluctuations. The proportion of companies that choose not to reduce staff when business conditions worsen has drastically decreased: from 8.9% in the fourth quarter of 2019 to 4.3% in the first quarter of 2026.
According to the OECD, this has caused Spanish companies to shift from being close to the EU average before the pandemic to being “among the most reactive” currently. That is, at any sign of deterioration, employment adjustments are quicker and more frequent. A trend that, combined with high temporary employment and structural unemployment, complicates job stability for many workers.
For workers and employers, the OECD's message is clear: the Spanish labour market has improved, but the underlying problems — high unemployment, stagnant wages, and high sensitivity of companies to crises — remain unresolved. The next challenge will be to see if public policies can change this dynamic in the coming years.
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