Unemployment benefit after the season: deadline, duration, requirements

Paro is the everyday name for Spain's contribution-based unemployment benefit — officially the prestación contributiva por desempleo, paid by SEPE to workers who lose their job and have paid in enough. It is not limited to people who have lost their job for good: in October the venues in Mallorca close and for many people inactivity begins. The question afterwards is always the same: am I entitled to anything, and what do I have to do?

The basic requirement

At least 360 days contributed against the unemployment contingency. Those days accumulate across all jobs, not just the last one. Someone who has worked two five-month seasons is already close; three seasons usually puts you over. On top of that comes registering as a job seeker — not a formality but part of the application.

Fifteen days — and what happens if you miss them

The law requires the application to be filed within fifteen days of the legal unemployment situation arising. The application requires registration as a job seeker, and that registration must be kept up for the whole benefit period — if it lapses, payment is suspended.

How long it is paid

The duration depends on what was contributed in the six years before unemployment. SEPE publishes a fixed scale:

• 360 to 539 contribution days → 120 days of benefit
• 540 to 719 → 180 days
• 720 to 899 → 240 days
• 900 to 1,079 → 300 days
• 1,080 to 1,259 → 360 days
• and onwards in steps to the ceiling: from 2,160 contribution days, 720 days of benefit

On the amount we deliberately say nothing. It depends on the contribution base of recent months, on floors and ceilings that are adjusted annually, and on the number of dependent children. SEPE provides its own calculator whose result is expressly non-binding — a figure in a guide would be less binding still.

What this means for the Mallorca season

In practice: the day the season ends is not a day to catch your breath, it is the start of a short deadline. Anyone who finishes in October and turns up in December has already given away weeks. And anyone who believes a continuing contract rules out the benefit leaves it entirely unclaimed — when that very case is expressly covered.