More people than ever in work on Costa del Sol

More jobs were created in Malaga province last year than in any year since records began: 71,000 to be precise.

Since 2002, the quarterly active population survey - the EPA - has been viewed as the most reliable record in Spain of the employment situation.

Between the end of 2024 to the end of 2025, the province including the Costa del Sol went from 743,000 people in work to 814,000 according to the latest EPA data out this week.

This is an exceptional increase and is part of a long-term trend. The record growth in number working was the second biggest for any province in Spain.

Only Madrid ranked higher, with almost 79,000 jobs created

Natalia Sánchez, vice-president of the CEM Malaga employers' association said, "We are not only achieving a gradual reduction in tourism seasonality, but sectors such as construction, real estate and retail have also recorded sustained growth throughout 2025."

However, beneath the record figures of those in work, there is a paradox: in the same year in which 71,000 jobs were created, unemployment in Malaga fell by only 700 people. In other words, it remained virtually unchanged, with 108,000 unemployed according to the EPA. Once again, the province failed to drop below the threshold of 100,000 unemployed. The unemployment rate fell by just one percentage point, from 12.76% to 11.71%.

In reality, this paradox is not new. Malaga has experienced it since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, as economic and employment growth have continued. The province creates many jobs, but the number of people looking for work also grows at the same pace, which prevents unemployment from falling. Last year this is exactly what happened: the fourth-quarter survey recorded 71,200 more people in work and 70,600 more economically active people than in the same period of 2024.

Malaga is by far the top province in the increase in the active population, driven by an influx of new residents and more people deciding to look for work than before.

Spain's labour market overall closed 2025 with a new historic record in employment, reaching 22.46 million people in work in the final quarter after adding 605,000 jobs over the year, according to the EPA survey.

This strong surge in employment has helped the unemployment rate to fall by just over half a percentage point to 9.93% at the end of 2025 and, for the first time since the first quarter of 2008 - prior to the financial crisis - it has fallen below the 10% mark nationally.