The end of August left fewer people in work and more registered as unemployed in all three Valencian provinces. Average Social Security enrolment fell by 22,256 people from July, while registered unemployment rose by 5,847. The monthly deterioration was region-wide, but it did not wipe out the gains accumulated over the previous year.
The Valencian Community ended the month with 2,295,883 contributors, down 0.96% from July. Compared with August 2025, however, the total was 93,474 higher, an increase of 4.24%. The two comparisons describe different time frames: one captures the loss of activity at the end of summer, while the other leaves employment above its level twelve months earlier.
Valencia accounts for most of the fall in enrolment
Valencia province lost 15,310 contributors in one month and finished with 1,215,016. Alicante shed 5,380, leaving 810,308, while Castellón lost 1,556 and ended on 270,559. These are monthly averages, so they should not be read as the number of contracts terminated on a particular day.
Registered unemployment provides a second view of the same shift. Public employment offices counted 294,519 unemployed people across the region, 5,847 more than in July, a rise of 2.03%. Valencia added 3,080; Alicante, 1,864; and Castellón, 903. Castellón had the sharpest percentage increase, at 2.87%, even though its smaller population meant fewer people were added to the regional total.
Castellón breaks with the year-on-year improvement
The comparison with a year earlier again qualifies the picture. Registered unemployment was lower in Valencia, by 1,195 people, and in Alicante, by 1,468. Castellón moved in the opposite direction, with 428 more unemployed people than in August 2025, an increase of 1.34%. Across the whole region, unemployment was down by 2,235, a modest fall of 0.75%.
Services accounted for almost half of the monthly rise, adding 2,884 unemployed people. The number with no previous employment increased by 1,323; construction added 1,061 and industry 582. Agriculture was the only sector to fall, by just three people. That distribution is consistent with the end of summer activity, but the statistics cannot assign a specific cause to each new registration.
The regularisation programme complicates comparisons
The 2026 figures also reflect the extraordinary regularisation programme for foreign residents. On 31 August, 39,830 people in the Valencian Community were enrolled in Social Security through that route. At the same time, registered unemployment among foreign nationals rose by 2,720 during the month and by 8,090 over the year. Those figures cannot simply be offset: employment enrolment and unemployment come from different registers, and regularisation can alter a person’s administrative access to both.
Hiring data show a monthly slowdown too. Employers registered 97,568 contracts, 57,035 fewer than in July. Of these, 46,964 were permanent and 50,604 temporary. The overall monthly decline was 36.89%, while the total was also 6,553 below August 2025.
September’s figures will show whether this was mainly a seasonal move or a deterioration that extends beyond summer. The next comparable benchmark will be the official unemployment and enrolment release for this month. Until then, August carries two messages: a clear short-term setback, especially pronounced in percentage terms in Castellón, alongside an employment total that remains above last year’s level.
Sources: SEPE registered-unemployment statistics; the Social Security enrolment report; and Valencia Plaza’s regional and provincial breakdown.