Unemployment in Marbella dropping

Although the dip in the registered number of unemployed people in the whole of Marbella only dropped by 170 during April, it was sufficient to take the jobless total to under 13,000 for the first time since 2009, according to figures released by the Andalucian Employment Service.

March had seen some very significant decreases but the good news is that the downwards trend continues, and at 12,977 people this shows a decrease over the same period last year of 1,244 (a drop of nearly 9 per cent).

The gender split is relatively even, although female unemployment at 7,152 does show quite a gap with just 5,825 men looking for jobs.

Hopefully with the expected influx of tourists and the re-opening of different bars and beaches as the weather gets better, the unemployment figures will continue to show a downwards trend and will possibly plateau during the summer months.

The figures were not as strong in the province of Malaga, although unemployment did still fall but not as dramatically as hoped for or in a match to Marbella over the past few months, as there are still 178,613 registered unemployed in the province.

When one considers that the overall figure for unemployment across the whole of Spain has been edging upwards, this news for the people and the tax payers of Marbella possibly bodes well for the future, especially if a stable government (by no means a certainty) comes to power in the June 26 general election.