Tarragona and Reus lead the increase in affiliation among Catalan municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants. In March 2026, the capital of Tarragona registered a year-on-year increase of 3.5% and Reus reached 3.9%, in both cases above the Catalan average.
The labor market in Catalonia closed March with 76,870 more affiliates than a year earlier, which represents a growth of 2.1% and places the total close to 3.7 million people, according to provisional data released by Idescat.
Impulse in the Camp de Tarragona
Employment behavior was especially intense in the Tarragona area. The region of Tarragonès recorded an increase of 5.8% in affiliation, in an evolution marked by the advance of the services sector, which grew in all Catalan regions.
Also in the monthly comparison, this rebound is appreciated. Regarding February, membership rose by 2.6% in Tarragona and 3.7% in Reus, two of the most notable variations on the Catalan map.
Reus gains female employment and foreign workers
In Reus, one of the most relevant data points is the evolution of female employment. The affiliation of women increased by 4.5%, above the general growth registered in the municipality.
Another of the notable movements is concentrated in the working population of foreign origin. Both in Tarragona and in Reus, the number of foreign affiliates grew more than 10%, an increase that consolidates the weight of this collective in the labor market of both cities.
Services on the rise and setback of construction
The sectoral dynamic leaves a clear trend. Services advanced in all regions, including Tarragonès, while construction was the only sector that declined in Catalonia as a whole.
In parallel, Tarragona presents a 12.2% of temporary affiliations, the second highest proportion among the large Catalan municipalities, only behind Girona. The data places the city among those that maintain a greater presence of temporary hiring despite the general increase in affiliation.
The evolution of March thus confirms a start to 2026 with special strength in Tarragona and Reus, two municipalities that pull employment in the south of Catalonia and that gain weight in the annual affiliation balance.