In Spain, 876,750 people receive contributory benefits (unemployment) and 762,265 receive unemployment benefits from the State Public Employment Service (SEPE), according to the latest data from the Ministry of Labor. The amounts of these benefits depend mainly on the IPREM (multiple-effect public income indicator), which has been frozen since 2023. If nothing changes, by 2027 they will remain at 1,225 euros per month without children and the subsidy for those over 52 years of age at 480 euros, for the fifth year and with runaway inflation, while pensions will do so and have done so in accordance with the CPI.
The IPREM is set by the Budget Law for each year, as established in article 2.2 of Royal Decree-Law 3/2004, which created the indicator. Having been without budgets for three years, this continues with the same value as 2023, whose figure remains at 20 euros per day, which is 600 euros per month and 7,200 per year (the same as what is regulated in the ninetieth additional provision of Law 31/2022).
The minimum and maximum amounts of unemployment are calculated with the IPREM increased by one sixth (700 euros), as stated in article 270.3 of the General Social Security Law. In this way, on a full-time basis, the maximum amounts without children will be 175% (1,225 euros), 200% with one child (1,400) and 225% with two or more (1,575), and the minimum is 80% without children (560 euros) or 107% with children (749).
In the case of working part-time, the limits are calculated in proportion to the hours worked in the last 180 days. The self-employed have the same limits on the benefit for cessation of activity (sections 3 and 4 of article 339).
The subsidies are 95% of the IPREM for the first 180 days (570 euros), 90% until day 360 (540) and 80% thereafter (480). The subsidy for those over 52 years of age is different, since with the reform of unemployment benefits (Royal Decree 2/2024) the fixed amount of 80% was maintained throughout the period (articles 278 and 280.4).
With the CPI of pensions, the IPREM today would be 657 euros
Contributory pensions are revalued every January with the average of the CPI from December to November, as required by article 58.2 of the General Social Security Law. In this way, in 2024, they rose by 3.8%, in 2025 by 2.8% and by 2.7% in 2026. Knowing this, if the IPREM had risen the same, its amount would be 657.52 euros per month, 9.6% more.
For 2027, the average CPI from December to September is 3.33%, with that of September at 4.9%, the highest since February 2023, as published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). If October (the advance rate has been 4.9%) and November remain between 4.3% and 4.9%, pensions will rise by 3.5% or 3.6%, as calculated as a guideline. NewsWork. With 3.5%, the IPREM would reach around 680 euros.
The Interprofessional Minimum Wage has gone from 1,080 euros per month in 14 payments to 1,221 euros, that is, an increase of 13.1% more. The IPREM was equivalent to 55.6% of the minimum wage in 2023 and today it is no longer half that (49.1%).
This table shows the calculation of NoticiasTrabajo with the IPREM at the rate of pensions and an increase of 3.5% in 2027.
| Amount (euros per month, full time) | 2026 (and 2027, unchanged) | With the IPREM at the pace of pensions, 2026 | With the IPREM at the pace of pensions, 2027 (estimated) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum unemployment without children | 1,225 | 1,342 | 1,389 |
| Maximum unemployment with one child | 1,400 | 1,534 | 1,588 |
| Maximum unemployment with two or more children | 1,575 | 1,726 | 1,786 |
| Minimum unemployment without children | 560 | 614 | 635 |
| Minimum unemployment with children | 749 | 821 | 850 |
| Subsidy, first 180 days | 570 | 625 | 647 |
| Subsidy, from day 181 to 360 | 540 | 592 | 612 |
| Subsidy from day 361 and for those over 52 years of age | 480 | 526 | 544 |
That is to say, the ceiling on unemployment without children is about 117 euros per month lower than what it would be with the updated IPREM, and the distance would reach about 164 in 2027. Unemployment is 70% of the regulatory base (the average of the unemployment contributions in the last 180 days, according to sections 1 and 2 of article 270) during the first six months, so that entire difference is only lost by those who contributed. for about 1,920 euros per month or more (about 1,985 in 2027).
With that 70%, the 1,225 euros of the cap are collected by those who were contributing 1,750 euros per month, about 21,000 gross per year with prorated extra payments. It is 23% more than the prorated 2026 minimum wage (1,424.50 euros), and in 2023 the distance was 39%. Whoever quoted between 1,750 and 1,920 euros loses less than those 117 euros. From the seventh month unemployment drops to 60%, and then the ceiling is reached by contributing around 2,042 euros and the entire difference is lost from around 2,237.
In the subsidy, which has a fixed amount, the difference reaches all those who receive it. For those over 52 years of age it is 46 euros per month now and about 64 in 2027, about 770 euros per year, because neither unemployment nor subsidies have extra payments.
The IPREM of 2027 remains in the hands of the pension decree
For the IPREM to change in January, the Government would have to update it in a norm such as the decree law with the increase in pensions. This decree will likely be approved by a government in office after the general elections on November 29, and will then have to be validated by the Permanent Deputation or the new Congress. None of the decrees with which pensions increased in 2024, 2025 and 2026 touched the IPREM.
Furthermore, that decree may not arrive in December. On the last similar occasion, the acting Government maintained pensions in 2020 at the 2019 amount through Royal Decree-Law 18/2019, of December 27, and the increase did not come until Royal Decree-Law 1/2020, of January 14, with effect from January 1.
The Government has begun to replace the IPREM in some benefits. Royal Decree-Law 31/2026, as of November 1, sets the minimum of extraordinary pensions for terrorism at double the minimum wage, instead of triple the IPREM, considering it a more appropriate reference to protect its beneficiaries, although the decree is still pending validation.
The longest freeze of the IPREM was from 2010 to 2016, when it was at 532.51 euros per month for seven years, although there were Budgets every year, the last being Law 48/2015.
Almost 1.4 million workers looking for a full-time job find part-time employment
The SEPE asks you to return 7,865.94 euros of the subsidy for those over 52 years of age for continuing to collect it beyond the retirement age and justice only requires you to return a little more than three months because the error was the agency’s.
If the IPREM were to rise, the subsidy, which is calculated with the IPREM “in force at all times” (article 278), would change that same month for those who already receive it. The ceiling and minimum of unemployment, on the other hand, are set with the IPREM “in force at the time of the birth of the right” (article 270.3), so only those who start collecting it later would notice it.