Short-term contracts proceed to flood the market: one in three lasted lower than a month in 2025 | Economy | EUROtoday

The labor reform that got here into drive in 2022 and is now 4 years previous has considerably modified the typology of contracts made. Statistical proof signifies that in 2021 solely 11% of hires have been everlasting, in comparison with 41.5% of these signed in 2025. However, the length of short-term contracts, that are round 60% of the whole of these newly signed, stays extraordinarily brief: roughly a 3rd of them lasted lower than a month final 12 months. What’s extra, 21% (one in 5) didn’t even exceed the week’s length.

In truth, the common length of contracts final 12 months, removed from growing in comparison with earlier than the reform, decreased. Specifically, it was 45.26 days, the identical as a 12 months earlier than and eight days lower than in 2021. Then, short-term hires lasted a mean of 54.4 days, in line with knowledge from the completely different official employment information (SEPE, Social Security and INE) analyzed by the USO union. This is in step with the unfavourable balances in Social Security affiliation that proceed to happen each Friday, add the technicians of this middle.

The knowledge point out that after the labor reform there was a virtually full switch of short-term work and repair contracts (which represented 35% of these signed annually) to indefinite contracts (whose weight has been round 40% because the reform). These work or service contracts have been short-term in nature, however didn’t have a predetermined length. They started and lasted so long as the exercise for which the employee had been employed lasted, however with a most length of three years, extendable to 4 by settlement. They have been prohibited within the labor reform and solely two sorts of short-term contracts stay in drive: interim contracts and manufacturing circumstances contracts, the usage of which was additionally restricted.

According to this, many of the new fastened contracts can be utilized by many firms just like the previous development contracts, that’s, and not using a outlined contract finish date. It so occurs that the official knowledge don’t element in an up to date method the common length of the brand new indefinite contracts, so it’s not identified if these exceed the four-year most length that the work and repair contracts had. The solely measurement of the conduct of the brand new everlasting workers is the statistics of the principle causes of withdrawal of associates from the General Regime of Social Security workers. These knowledge point out that the cancellations of everlasting contracts produced in November 2025 (newest knowledge accessible) have elevated by 8.2% in comparison with a 12 months earlier than and 255% in comparison with 2021. This signifies that extra everlasting contracts are made, but in addition extra are destroyed: “We are in a situation of high employment turnover,” the union factors out.

At this level, the casualties that happen in discontinuous everlasting contracts stand out (536% greater than in 2021), one thing logical as a result of this modality was promoted within the labor reform as a substitute for the restrictions of everlasting contracts. And the dismissals for not passing the trial interval (dismissals with out compensation within the first three or six months of an indefinite contract) additionally stand out, which final 12 months elevated by 4.2% in comparison with 2024, and a robust 659.7% in comparison with 2021, when these conditions may very well be coated with a works contract. This helps the thesis that the usage of the indefinite contract can be utilized in follow as a short lived one.

What is thought from the official figures analyzed by USO is that the burden of present short-term staff stays the identical and even better than earlier than the labor reform. In truth, along with the chances of contracts of lower than per week or lower than a month, it’s noticed that these contracts of between one and two weeks had a better weight in 2025 than earlier than the reform (they have been 5.5% in comparison with 4.6%). And the identical occurred with people who final between one and three months, which in 2021 have been 10.6% of whole new hires and final 12 months, 11.1%.

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The evaluation carried out by USO highlights that the rise in everlasting hiring is related, nonetheless, with a notable enhance in part-time and discontinuous everlasting hiring. Thus, they point out that solely 16% of the whole preliminary contracts concluded in 2025 have been full-time indefinite; and solely 56.3% of all contracts (everlasting and short-term) made through the 12 months have been full-time.

In addition, they level out that discontinuous everlasting contracts – which they level out are one other type of part-time contract, with lower than full working hours of their annual or month-to-month calculation – accounted for nearly 14% of the whole new contracts signed final 12 months. If we add to this share that of part-time everlasting workers (10.2% of the whole), the sum of each (24%) far exceeds the burden of full-time everlasting workers (16%).

Given this, USO denounces that “this situation of notable increase in partiality shows that the increase in employment is not leading to an increase in employment, because the same hours of work are distributed among more people.” This kind of partial employment additionally implies decrease salaries, “which is increasing situations of poverty and multiple employment.” “An indefinite contract no longer guarantees you making ends meet,” they are saying on this union middle.

This grievance is supported by one other piece of knowledge: that of the hours labored within the common weekly workday measured by the Quarterly National Accounts (which measures the GDP). According to the newest knowledge for this indicator ready by the INE, the common weekly working day on the finish of the third quarter of 2025 (newest knowledge accessible) was 31.4 hours, lower than the 33 hours that have been labored in 2008 or 2009.