Spain (2025)
8
% of employed persons
+0.1pp YoY
YoY Change
+0.1pp
percentage points
Trend
up
Series length
23
years of data

Data

Year% of employed personsYoY Change
20258+0.1pp
20247.9+0.7pp
20237.2-0.4pp
20227.6-1.9pp
20219.5-1.5pp
202011+6.1pp
20194.9+0.6pp
20184.3+0pp
20174.3+0.8pp
20163.5-0.1pp
20153.6-0.7pp
20144.3+0pp
20134.3-0.2pp
20124.5+0.4pp
20114.1+0.3pp
20103.8+0.4pp
20093.4+0.3pp
20083.1+0.4pp
20072.7-0.3pp
20063n/a

About this Dataset

The Spain Usually Works from Home Rate measures the share of employed persons for whom home is their primary work location, compiled annually by Eurostat from the EU Labour Force Survey (dataset LFSA_EHOMP, frequency code USU). The 2025 figure of 8% — marginally below the EU-27 average of 9% — reflects a partial stabilisation following the pandemic surge, with Spain retaining more home-working than Italy but less than France or Germany.

Spain's pre-pandemic WFH rate of 4.9% (2019) was already above Italy's (3.7%) despite Spain's broadly similar Mediterranean cultural profile. This suggests that Spain's professional and technology sectors in Madrid and Barcelona had a more developed remote-work culture than their Italian counterparts — partly attributable to Spain's stronger tech startup ecosystem and the presence of major multinational technology firm regional offices in Barcelona. The COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020 — some of the most stringent in Europe by duration — forced rapid and near-universal adoption of remote work for eligible roles, pushing the rate to 11% in 2020. Spain subsequently codified this through Royal Decree-Law 28/2020, which established a legal framework for teleworking agreements (including employer obligations to provide equipment and cover costs for remote workers), providing more durability to the shift than Italy's less comprehensive legislative response.

The 2025 stabilisation at 8% — 3.1 percentage points above the pre-pandemic level — suggests that Spain's usually-from-home population has found a new equilibrium: white-collar workers in tech, finance, and professional services have retained substantial remote work, while the large in-person sectors (tourism, hospitality, construction, retail, agriculture) that account for a major share of Spanish employment have returned to fully in-person models. For commercial real estate investors assessing Spanish office markets, this bifurcation matters: prime Madrid (AZCA, Castellana, Cuatro Torres) and Barcelona (22@ district, Diagonal) markets are influenced by tech and professional services demand, which maintains hybrid-work pressure on space utilisation; secondary office markets in smaller cities or industrial regions face less WFH pressure given the in-person composition of local employment.

Coverage and methodology: Eurostat compiles the usually-from-home rate annually from EU LFS microdata. Spain's INE provides the underlying EPA data. The series begins in 2002, offering a pre-broadband baseline. The 2020 LFS methodology update standardised the home-working question across member states. Spain's figure includes the Canary Islands and Balearics, where in-person tourism employment is particularly concentrated — contributing to the national rate sitting below the EU average despite strong remote-work adoption in mainland urban centres.

Frequently Asked Questions

In 2025, **8%** of employed persons in Spain usually worked from home, 1pp below the EU-27 average of 9%. The indicator measures persons for whom home is the primary work location on the majority of their working days, as defined by Eurostat's EU Labour Force Survey. Spain's rate stabilised at approximately 8% in 2024–2025, having partially normalised from the 11% pandemic peak.
Spain's usually-from-home rate was 4.9% in 2019 — below the EU average but substantially higher than Italy's. It peaked at **11%** in 2020 as Spain's strict COVID-19 lockdowns (some of the most restrictive in Europe) forced rapid adoption of remote work. By 2025, the rate had partially normalised to 8%, retaining 3.1 percentage points above the 2019 baseline. Spain adopted a formal right to télétrabajo under Royal Decree-Law 28/2020, which provided a legal framework for remote working agreements — a factor that may have supported a higher post-pandemic WFH floor than Italy, which implemented comparable legislation but saw faster attrition.
At 8% in 2025, Spain is 1pp below the EU-27 average, 3.2pp below Germany (13.2%), and 3.3pp below France (11.3%). The gap relative to northern European peers primarily reflects Spain's sectoral composition: tourism, hospitality, and agriculture — which together account for a large share of Spanish employment — are predominantly in-person activities that cannot be performed remotely. Spain's 8% is largely concentrated in professional services, finance, technology, and public administration, where Madrid and Barcelona have well-developed remote-work cultures. The tech sector in particular (Spain has an active startup ecosystem in Barcelona and Madrid) has maintained above-average WFH adoption. The overall national rate is pulled down by the weight of non-remote-eligible employment.
The series begins in 2002, when Spain's usually-from-home rate was approximately 0.5% — effectively negligible, consistent with pre-broadband Spain's heavily in-person professional culture. The rate rose gradually through the 2010s as broadband infrastructure improved and professional working norms evolved, reaching 4.9% in 2019. The 2020 pandemic surge to 11% was Spain's most rapid labour market transformation in modern recorded history. By 2025, the 8% stabilisation represents a durable baseline — 3.1pp above pre-COVID — indicating structural retention of remote work in white-collar sectors. The marginal +0.1pp year-on-year increase in 2025 suggests continued very slow adoption rather than a return to office.