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E. Hinojosa Labour Malaga leads in number of employees from other parts of Spain among Andalucía's provincesSeville, however, attracts the highest number of employees from the rest of Andalucía
Monday, 12 January 2026, 11:57
Malaga province gained 1,990 workers from other regions in 2024. This makes it the third largest net absorber of employees in Spain, after Alicante (3,475 people) and the Balearic Islands (3,185) and ahead of Guadalajara, Valencia, Castellón and Madrid, which gained only 751 workers from other provinces.
This data, compiled by the Ministry of Finance, reflects movements within the labour market between 2023 and 2024, excluding the Basque Country and Navarre, which have their own tax systems.
As far as Malaga is concerned, the data shows that behind this gain of almost 2,000 employees from other regions, there is, on the one hand, the entry of 6,470 workers coming from other non-Andalusian provinces and, on the other, the departure of 4,480 people to other regions.
Losses in Andalucía
Malaga recorded a net gain of nearly 2,000 salaried workers, bucking the trend across Andalucía as a whole, which lost 7,132 employees. This was because the 29,405 people who chose the region for work were outweighed by more than 36,500 who left for other regions. Andalucía is, in fact, the region that lost the highest number of workers to internal migration in 2024, having failed to offset departures with arrivals, followed by Castilla y León (-2,313), Castilla-La Mancha (-1,941) and Extremadura (-1,935).
At the other end, the regions that gained the highest number of workers were Valencia, with 6,329, ahead of Catalonia, with 2,937.
The main culprit for the loss in Andalucía is Seville, which was the province with the worst labour balance in Spain. In 2024, a total of 16,593 salaried workers left this province, compared with the mere 8,105 that it attracted, resulting in a net drop of close to 8,500 salaried workers.
Malaga stands out in terms of attracting employees from other regions. Inflows far outweigh outflows: far fewer people leave than come. The Costa del Sol province, however, by no means attracts the most workers: Madrid tops the ranking, with 55,241 Spanish workers gained in 2024, although 54,500 left. Also ahead of Malaga are Barcelona, Valencia, the Balearic Islands and Toledo. Seville also ranks ahead: in 2024, income tax data shows that it received 8,105 salaried workers from other provinces outside Andalucía, compared with 6,470 in Malaga. Nonetheless, nearly 16,600 people left Seville.
If Malaga is a magnet for workers from other regions, it does not act as a magnet for the rest of Andalucía the way Seville does. According to data compiled by the Ministry of Finance, Malaga recorded a net loss of 378 workers to the rest of Andalucía. A total of 5,194 workers left Malaga for other Andalusian provinces, while only 4,816 salaried employees moved here from elsewhere in Andalucía.
In contrast, Seville led Andalucía's labour "migrations", having received 13,276 people from the rest of the region compared to just 4,756 departures. In net terms, it gained 8,520 people. It was also the province that gained the most labour force from its own region, ahead of Valladolid (up by 3,704 workers from the rest of Castilla y León), Valencia (3,063) and Toledo (3,000). From this it can be concluded that Seville acts as a pole of attraction for workers like no other regional capital.
Movements within the region show that Cadiz was the province that brought the most workers to Seville in 2024, with 2,922; ahead of Malaga (2,561). Seville was the preferred destination within Andalucía for Malaga workers that left their province and vice versa: Malaga was the preferred destination for Seville-based workers who chose to move within the region.
Labour migration from Malaga contained within Andalucía
The data published by the Ministry of Finance also reveals some interesting dynamics in the province of Malaga. On the one hand, workers from the province who decide to leave mainly choose another province in Andalucía: the 4,480 employees who left Malaga and Andalucía contrast with the almost 5,200 who left the province to stay in the region.
The pattern is different for those moving to Malaga. Most newcomers come from other regions rather than from within Andalucía. Specifically, 6,470 workers arrived from other regions, compared with 4,816 who moved to Malaga from other Andalusian provinces during 2024.