Record number of people are in work on the Costa del Sol
There were 31,900 new jobs created in Malaga province from April to June, according to the official EPA survey, however this is down on the same period last year
Cristina Vallejo / SUR
Malaga
Friday, 25 July 2025, 18:40
There were 31,900 new jobs created in Malaga province - including the Costa del Sol - in the second quarter of the year, from April to June. The province had a record 791,800 people in work at the end of June, according to the latest official EPA active population survey from the national statistics institute. This translates to 59.88% of the available 'active' workforce locally being in work.
The increase represented a 4.2% growth in the number employed over the three months - double the average rate of job creation in Spain, where there was an increase of 2.3% overall.
Malaga was the sixth province in Spain that gained the most workers in the second quarter, after the Balearic Islands, Madrid, Barcelona, Cadiz, and Alicante.
The overall unemployment rate locally, according to this quarterly EPA report, stood at 13.15%
However, it was not all good news: the 31,900 new jobs created locally in the second quarter of 2025 are fewer than the 50,400 created in the same period last year, and also down from the 32,700 created in the second quarter of 2023.
In addition, the only sector sustaining job creation in Malaga province is the service sector, which increased its number of employees by 40,700 in the second quarter of the year, to almost 670,000 in the whole province. This offset the job losses suffered by other sectors in the second quarter: construction lost 5,600 jobs, down to 59,100; industry lost 1,900 jobs, down to 45,800; and agriculture lost another 1,400 jobs, down to 17,600.
Unemployed rate
On the other side of the coin to the number of jobs created were changes in the number of people saying they were looking for work. The number of unemployed does not change exactly in line with the number of new jobs, as the size of the labour market overall is growing on the Costa del Sol.
The number of unemployed people in the province fell to 119,800, meaning a decrease of 12,100 unemployed people compared to the first quarter. The overall unemployment rate locally, according to this quarterly EPA report, stood at 13.15%.
This compares to the unemployment rate of 10.29% in Spain as a whole, which is the highest rate of any country in the EU.
The EPA survey is considered the more reliable of Spain's unemployment gauges, when compared to the monthly Social Security affiliation reports, as it takes into account those wanting to work but who do not sign on and who are not in the system.
