Which industries lead the job creation ranking for Malaga and the Costa del Sol?

Private sector employment - or that created by companies registered with social security authorities in Spain - according to the statistics published periodically by the Junta de Andalucía's institute of statistics and cartography (Ieca) has increased in Malaga province by 35% in the last five years, from the worst of the pandemic in May 2020 to the present.

The 405,455 workers of five years ago are now 546,344. In no other Andalusian province has the growth been so significant. In fact, the increase in employment across the region for the same period has been 26%, now at over 2.5 million workers from just over two million in 2020. After Malaga, the province in which employment has best progressed in these five years has been Cadiz with a 27% increase, going from 253,018 employees to 322,084.

However, the performance by sector has been very uneven. In Malaga province, the most intense growth has occurred in the service industries, with an increase of 38%, rising from 330,486 employees to 455,663 between 2020 and 2025, again beating the rate of increase recorded for the entire region (a 30% increase, up to 1.87 million). Moreover, within this sector are the specific activities that have shown the greatest dynamism. Firstly, the hospitality industry, where employment has increased by 67% to almost 95,000 employees. No other province has achieved this figure. Therefore, while Seville beats Malaga in terms of population and employment as a whole, there are just over 57,100 people employed in hospitality in the province of Seville.

While the increase in employment in hospitality in Huelva has been greater, 83% over the five years, the total workforce employed in this trade in the province barely reaches 16,378 people.

The logistics sector (or transport and warehousing, according to the terminology used by Ieca's statisticians) also stands out in Malaga. The increase in employment over the last five years is 66%, up to a total of 27,314 workers. In Andalucía as a whole, the increase since 2020 is 37%, to 128,718 employees. In second place for the most growth in this sector is, again, the province of Seville (up 38%, now with 33,136 workers).

With a 60% increase in employment, the third most dynamic sector in Malaga province over the last five years has been the information and telecommunications sector. It now employs 18,709 people. Malaga is surpassed in growth by Jaen, which has recorded an increase of 85%, but the number of people employed in the sector in that province barely exceeds 2,000.

Although with a much smaller workforce, the number of people working for companies in the artistic sector and recreational activities in Malaga is also notable. Not surprisingly, their number has increased by nearly 60% in the last five years to over 12,400.

It has been seen that Malaga is the Andalusian province with the highest number of employees in the hospitality industry. The same is true of the construction sector, which employs 49,710 people in the Costa del Sol province, compared to 43,712 in Seville. Employment in this area of economic activity has grown by 35% in Malaga, compared to the 38% rise recorded for all Andalucía, to over 183,900 workers.

The situation is very different in the industrial sector. The 31,454 workers employed in manufacturing companies in Malaga province are not only less than half of those working in factories in Seville (67,155), but also fewer than those employed in factories in Cadiz (38,640) and Cordoba (35,083).

Another striking circumstance is that agricultural companies in Malaga are the ones that generate the least employment of all Andalucía: the number of workers barely exceeds 9,500, compared to 78,452 in Huelva (the leading province in this sector in Andalucía), 42,500 in Almeria and nearly 33,000 in Seville.

Furthermore, this is the only major economic activity in which employment has fallen in Malaga province in the last five years. To be precise, the drop is 15%, which is larger than that recorded for all Andalucía (down 4%, falling below 225,000 workers), but less than that suffered in Granada (down 15% to 15,783 agricultural employees).