Unemployment has risen since December, but has fallen since March last year

EUSTAT, the Basque Institute of Statistics, published on Wednesday the results of theLabour Force Survey   of the first quarter of the year and it follows that in the first quarter of 2026 the situation in the Basque Country worsened compared to the previous quarter, but improved compared to the same quarter of 2025.

According to data for the first quarter of 2026, the number of employed persons fell by 2,700 andthe number of unemployed increased by 5,900 compared with the previous quarter.

The number of employed persons is 1,013,600, 2,700  less than in the previous quarter, but 18,700 more than in the same quarter of the previous year (1.9%).

Compared to the previous quarter, the service sector fell by 3,800 persons (-00.5 per cent) in employment and industry by 3,200 (-1.6 per cent), while construction increased by 4,200 (+7 per cent) andprimary sector   by 100 (+1.1 per cent).

At the end of the first quarter of 2026, there are 73,300 people in the ACV who want to work and are unemployed, 5,900 more than in theprevious quarter, with an unemployment rate of 6.7% , five tenths higher than in the previous quarter.

However, compared to the same quarter of 2025, the data show that in the Basque Country there are 1,300 fewer people unemployed, three tenths less than at the same time last year (7% unemployment rate). 

Theunemployment rate among young people aged 16 to 24  is 12.5%, 9 tenths higher than in the previous quarter and one tenth lower than in the same quarter of the previous year.

56.4% of the population aged 16 years and over in the Basque Country is active, the same as in the previous quarter. Among the population aged 16 to 64, the employment rate has fallen by four tenths, to 71.5%.