L'Hospitalet de Llobregat and the Baix Llobregat comarca ended March 2026 with 43,700 unemployed people, according to the Llobregat Business Forum's latest labour-market report. The total was 1,564 lower than in the first quarter of 2025, a year-on-year fall of 3.5% that coincided with an increase in contracts, offering a stronger pool of recorded job opportunities for local jobseekers and employers.

Unemployment nevertheless rose by 142 people, or 0.3%, from the final quarter of 2025. The figures cover L'Hospitalet, a municipality in the Barcelonès area south-west of Barcelona, and the neighbouring Baix Llobregat comarca.

“The first quarter shows positive year-on-year signs in employment contracts and the active population, but also a quarterly rise in unemployment.”Llobregat Business Forum, as reported by El Periódico

Contract numbers rise from a year earlier

Employers formalised 78,599 employment contracts across the area in the first quarter of 2026. That was 5,220 more than the 73,379 recorded in the same quarter of 2025, an annual increase of 7.1%.

Contracting was lower than at the end of 2025, however. The first-quarter total was 8,031 below the 86,630 contracts signed in the previous three months, a quarterly reduction of 9.3%.

  • El Prat de Llobregat recorded 2,174 more contracts year on year.
  • Sant Joan Despí added 1,329 contracts, while Martorell added 1,016.
  • Sant Boi de Llobregat recorded 849 more contracts than a year earlier.

L'Hospitalet records the largest quarterly unemployment increase

Seventeen municipalities reduced their unemployment totals between the final quarter of 2025 and March 2026. The largest falls were in Sant Andreu de la Barca, down 55 people, Esparreguera, down 38, Martorell, down 37, and Molins de Rei, down 32.

L'Hospitalet recorded the largest quarterly increase, with 248 more unemployed people, followed by Cornellà de Llobregat with 92. Residents seeking work can use the Forum's quarterly figures to distinguish the annual improvement in the wider area from the more recent rise in the local unemployment count.

Reported by metropoliabierta.cat, El Periódico, barna.news, Vilapress, lapremsadelbaix.es.