Marbella closes 2025 with record employment figures and lowest number of unemployed in 19 years

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Last year, the council offered 2,400 training places and promoted the labour market and entrepreneurship with a series of actions and events

José Carlos García

Marbella

Friday, 9 January 2026, 14:03

Marbella ended 2025 with record-breaking figures for employment, social security affiliation, and entrepreneurship.

The city has now officially become the second-best performing municipality in the region (among those with populations over 40,000) for low unemployment rates.

Alejandro Freijo, Marbella’s Head of Employment, said the figures "consolidate the city's leadership" in the regional job market.

"This achievement reflects the council’s commitment to economic development and the creation of an ideal environment for companies to invest, grow, and generate opportunities," Mr Freijo added.

Freijo said that the town ended the year with 7,164 unemployed people, the lowest figure recorded in the month of December since 2006, which means 712 fewer unemployed people than in the same month in 2024 and a year-on-year reduction of nine per cent.

He also drew attention to "the strength of a local labour market" that reached another historic low last July, with 6,722 unemployed.

Marbella closed November with 77,523 social security affiliates and 15,467 self-employed, while there are 767 more companies than in 2024

The councillor added that 3,190 job contracts were signed in the last month of the year, 291 more than in the same period of the previous year, and highlighted the improvement in the quality of employment, with 62 per cent of contracts being permanent.

In terms of affiliation, he highlighted that in November Marbella had 77,523 contributors to social security, 2,363 more than a year ago, "reaching historic peaks during the summer", with 85,420 in July.

He also indicated that the municipality "continues to position itself as the epicentre of entrepreneurship" with a record number of self-employed workers, which in November amounted to 15,467 and which translates into a growth of 485 self-employed workers compared to the same period of the previous year.

In addition, there has been an increase in the number of businesses, with 20,829 active companies, 767 more than in 2024. "Marbella not only creates jobs, but does so in a sustained, stable and higher quality way, which shows that we are moving towards a more diversified economic model that is less dependent on seasonality," said Freijo.

A key year of growth

In 2025 the town hall offered a total of 2,450 places within the municipal training plan for employment and boosted the labour market, entrepreneurship and innovation with the consolidation of the Marbellup coworking space and the holding of events.

"It has been a key year of growth for Marbella thanks to a strategy focused on training, guidance and support for the self-employed that has strengthened the local business fabric and the economy," Freijo added.

Last year, the municipal employment portal, with an intermediation agency, enabled the publication of 3,100 job offers by more than 1,000 companies. Other outstanding initiatives launched by the delegation have been 'Impulsa Joven', in which 15 students participated and managed to enter the labour market, or the Orienta Programme, which assisted 1,050 people through personalised accompaniment.

Marbellup trains 1,000 people and accelerates 150 projects

In the field of entrepreneurship, 2025 was marked by the positioning of Marbellup as a technological hub of reference, in which a thousand people were trained in advanced skills, 150 projects were accelerated and more than 40 business meetings held.

Freijo also highlighted the importance of events such as Startup Olé Marbella, with two editions and nearly 1,000 attendees, more than 100 startups and 50 investors and corporations, or Business Innovation Marbella (BIM), as well as participation in international forums such as Global Digital Trade Expo and Startup Olé Miami.