Seasonal work and summer jobs in Spain: seasons, contracts, paperwork

Spain does not have one season but several. Whether you wait tables on the Mediterranean in July, work a hotel front desk in Tenerife in January or spend the winter at a ski resort in the Pyrenees, the same labour law applies – the hiring calendar does not. This guide covers when each region recruits, which contract the law intends for seasonal work, what you must be paid and what needs to be sorted before your first shift.

Which season, where

• Balearic Islands and the Mediterranean coast: summer. The Balearic statistics office shows the scale: almost 3.1 million tourists whose main destination was the Balearics arrived in August 2025, against just under 277,000 in January 2025.
• Canary Islands: winter. In January 2026 the Canaries were Spain's leading destination for international tourists, with 27.8% (INE, FRONTUR survey) – exactly when the Balearics are at their quietest.
• Ski resorts: winter, starting with the snow, in the Pyrenees and the Sierra Nevada. The Aramón group, which runs Formigal-Panticosa and Cerler among other resorts in Aragon, said it was hiring around 200 people for winter 2025/26, with applications closing in mid-October.
• Farming: harvests follow their own calendar, depending on the crop and the area.

The practical rule follows from that: apply before the season starts – in winter and early spring for the coast and the islands, in late summer and autumn for the ski resorts, from summer onwards for the Canary Islands. If you need a room, start even earlier, because jobs with accommodation are limited.

Which contract: fijo discontinuo or fixed-term

Since the labour reform of December 2021 (Royal Decree-law 32/2021), an employment contract is presumed to be open-ended. Employers may only use fixed-term contracts for two reasons: production needs or covering for a named employee (article 15 of the Workers' Statute). For work that comes back every year at the same time, the law provides the fijo discontinuo – an open-ended contract for seasonal activities (article 16). It must be in writing and state how long the working period lasts, the working hours and how they are distributed.

• Fixed-term for unforeseen peaks or fluctuations: six months at most, extendable to a year by a sector-wide collective agreement.
• Fixed-term for short, foreseeable peaks: an employer can use this route for no more than 90 days per calendar year in total, across all staff, and not as one continuous block.
• Chains of contracts: anyone employed for more than 18 months within 24 months by the same company or group, on two or more such contracts, becomes a permanent employee (article 15.5).
• A fixed-term contract that breaks these rules is treated as open-ended (article 15.4).

The difference shows when the season ends. A fixed-term contract simply ends: you receive your final settlement (finiquito) plus severance of twelve days' pay per year of service, pro rata for shorter periods (article 49.1.c). A fijo discontinuo does not end – it is suspended, and the employer has to call you back for the next season. The call-up rules have their own guide.

Pay, hours and heat

The minimum wage applies in the season too: at least €1,221 gross a month in 14 payments in 2026. For fixed-term work of up to 120 days with the same employer, Royal Decree 126/2026 sets a minimum of €57.82 per working day, including the extra payments, Sundays and public holidays. Anything above that is set by the collective agreement, which in hospitality often covers a single province.

Working time may not exceed 40 hours a week on average over the year, and your employer must record when each working day starts and ends; the records have to be available to you (article 34.9) and are your evidence for overtime at the height of the season. If you work outdoors in summer – in the fields, on the beach, on a terrace – the 2023 heat rules also protect you: when the weather service issues an orange or red warning and other measures are not enough, the employer must adjust working hours (Royal Decree-law 4/2023).

Accommodation: part of your pay or a separate deal

Some seasonal jobs come with a room. If it is part of your pay, it counts as a benefit in kind: together with meals and other benefits it may not exceed 30% of your pay, and you must still receive at least the minimum wage in cash (article 26.1). Get it in writing – what the room costs, how many people share it and how long you can stay after the contract ends. There is a separate guide on jobs with accommodation.

Before you start: permits and registration

1. 01Right to work: EU, EEA and Swiss citizens need no permit. If you stay longer than three months, register within three months of arrival; your NIE number is on the certificate.
2. 02UK and other non-EU citizens need authorisation before starting work. There is a specific seasonal permit, valid for four years and allowing up to nine months' work in each calendar year (Royal Decree 1155/2024). Since Brexit this applies to UK nationals unless they were already living in Spain before 2021.
3. 03Social security number (NUSS): you apply for it yourself, most easily through the Import@ss portal.
4. 04Registration (alta): your employer registers you with social security before your first day. You can check it in your employment history report (informe de vida laboral) on Import@ss, signing in with Cl@ve, a digital certificate or a text-message code.

After the season

Whether you can claim unemployment benefit between seasons depends on your contribution days: the contributory benefit paid by SEPE requires at least 360 days in the previous six years, added up across all your jobs. You must apply within 15 working days of the job ending. The guide to unemployment benefit after the season explains how that works for fijo discontinuo and fixed-term contracts.