When will shops on the Costa del Sol and across Malaga province mark Black Friday this year?

Black Friday is a special day for shoppers looking for bargains. It is an event imported from the United States which takes place after the Thanksgiving holiday, celebrated on the last Thursday in November.

This year, therefore, Black Friday falls on 24th November and it will create around 870 extra jobs in Malaga province, according to recruitment agency Randstad's estimate, practically the same (or, more precisely, 0.7% less) than last year, when the retail event generated 873 jobs.

Black Friday supposedly gets its name as it was traditionally considered to be the date on which the accounts of American businesses went into black numbers, meaning they were in profit, because it is also supposedly the day on which Christmas shopping begins.

More recently, there is also a recognition of Cyber Monday, the big day of sales on the internet which has become more popular since the emergence of e-commerce. This year it will fall on 27 November, making for a long weekend of intense shopping activity.

The recruitment agency Randstad expects employment in this first part of the runup to Christmas to hold up better in Malaga than in Andalucía as a whole. It forecasts the recruitment of 4,610 workers in the region, which represents a decrease of 5.8% compared to 4,902 a year ago. This is compared to the unchanged number of workers compared to last year that is estimated for Malaga province. "The general increase in prices, the rise in the cost of credit and greater uncertainty about the evolution of the economy have a lesser effect on the province of Malaga, which shows great resilience and will maintain practically the same level of recruitment as in previous years," explained Valentín Bote, director of Randstad Research.

However the best performance in Andalucía will be in Almeria province, where the firm forecasts 930 new jobs, 22.2% more than last year. More jobs are also expected to be created in Huelva (up 1.6% to 320) and in Jaén (up 3.2% to 200). But in Cadiz, Cordoba, Seville and Granada, employment is expected to fall in this first part of the Christmas season. In any case, it will be in Seville where most jobs will be created in the heat of Black Friday and Cyber Monday: some 1,130 jobs. Together with Almeria, it will be the only other province that will beat Malaga in terms of new jobs.

However, a better outcome is also forecast for Malaga than that estimated for Spain as a whole. The employment agency calculates that the number of new jobs in the country as a whole will amount to 25,457, which represents a drop of 11.7% compared to the 28,940 that were offered at the same time last year.

This is the time of year when many companies have to increase their workforce as a result of the estimated increased commercial activity. Randstad has taken into account the trade, logistics and transport sectors to make its estimations on how many jobs can be created in the heat of the Black Friday-Cyber Monday long weekend. According to the study, the main demands of logistics companies will be packers, forklift operators, warehouse workers and transport drivers, as well as customer service professionals to meet the boom in online shopping.

In the meantime, shops will be recruiting more sales assistants and other staff in order to reinforce their face-to-face customer service. According to Randstad, human resources departments value a close relationship with the customer and communication skills above anything else for these jobs. "For both the logistics and retail sectors, companies increasingly value candidates with digital skills and knowledge of platforms," the company highlighted.