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The latest unemployment figures released on Friday 3 January by Spain's ministry for employment have revealed positive statistics for Malaga. 2024 was another positive year in terms of employment in the province, where the number of people out of work fell by 12,000 and more than 23,000 jobs were created. There were more than 23,682 more people paying social security by December than at the start of 2024 and once again reached an unprecedented level of numbers of new people paying into the system in the province with 714,245 in total.
The growth in employment in percentage terms is 3.43% which is one point above the national average (2.41%) and only two provinces in the whole of Spain exceed it: Jaen, with 5.27% (which is explained by the olive oil sector which is generating almost twice as much production as last year) and Tenerife (with 3.57%). Of the provinces with the largest population, Malaga is the one with the highest contribution to job creation.
Within the Andalucía region, Malaga continues to be the powerhouse of employment: of the 93,770 affiliates that the region has added throughout 2024 (placing it second in the ranking after Madrid), a quarter have been contributed by Malaga. All the other Andalusian provinces have contributed positively to the growth in employment. Seville is in second position (+20,150 new workers) and Jaen in third, again, thanks to the improved olive harvest and oil production (+13,567).
In terms of unemployment, Malaga managed to end the year below 120,000 people out of work thanks to the drop of almost a thousand people in December, a month in which the labour market was boosted by the long weekend at the beginning of the month and the Christmas holidays. This fall is mainly concentrated in the services sector (which lost 922 job seekers). The number of unemployed without previous employment also fell (-232), as did those in industry (-56) and agriculture (-5). On the other hand, construction added 219 unemployed.
However, Malaga still has an unacceptable unemployment figure: 119,074 people are registered as job seekers with the Andalusian employment service (SAE) in a province that has been breaking records for several years in terms of job creation and economic growth. In addition to the existence of a pool of long-term unemployed who find it difficult to find work, there is another circumstance that is slowing down the fall in unemployment: the increase in the active population. The province has become a focus of attraction for workers from other provinces and countries.
The year-on-year variation in unemployment is therefore more discreet than that of employment. Malaga has reduced its unemployment figure by 12,004 in the last year, which is equivalent to a fall of 9.16%. And it is not the Andalusian province where unemployment has fallen the most: in absolute terms it is exceeded by Seville, with 12,882 fewer jobseekers; and in relative terms, Huelva, Jaén, Almería and Córdoba have recorded more intense reductions. Seville is the province where unemployment fell most in 2024 in the whole of Spain. And Malaga, the second.
According to Natalia Sánchez, executive vice-president and general secretary of the Empleo de CC OO union in Malaga, these figures are part of "a positive year for job creation and the reduction of unemployment, consolidating our rate of economic growth". She went on to say, "Beyond the December data, traditionally favourable thanks to the boost to trade with the Christmas period, we note the improvement, month by month, of these metrics in year-on-year comparison for the whole year." A trend that is "the result of the province's economic dynamism, with the drive of a productive fabric capable of growing and generating activity, and the influence not only of tourism, our undisputed driving force, but also of sectors such as construction, transport and logistics, consultancy, technological production and, of course, the increase in our exports".
Sánchez added, however, that Malaga has "a volume of unemployed people" that can't find work and the added challenge of "continuing to add to the active population". She said, "Active employment policies and the promotion of training - especially vocational training - must go hand in hand with strong incentives for the generation of economic activity and entrepreneurship, reducing the tax burden, administrative obstacles and legal uncertainty that hinders investment and the growth of companies," she concluded.
María José Prados, CC OO employment secretary for Malaga, shared the employers' optimistic view: "We have a good assessment of the employment data at the end of 2024. We are growing in affiliation above the national average and we have reached the best figure in history. Likewise, the number of unemployed people in our province has been reduced, also above the Andalusian and national average." For the trade union representative, measures such as the latest labour reform and the increase in the minimum wage have "contributed to a qualitative and quantitative leap in employment in Malaga" and added, "We are taking another step forward for 2025 with an agreement to reduce working hours, which will improve the lives of Malaga's workers."
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