Manilva Unemployment Rises for Third Month to 822 Unemployment in Manilva rose by 18 people in October to 822, the third monthly increase in a row, yet the lowest October figure in the town since 2007. The rise follows the usual end-of-summer slowdown in tourism and agriculture. Unemployment in Manilva has risen for the third month in a row. October added 18 people to the jobless lists, taking the total number of registered unemployed in the town to 822, according to the latest data from the public employment offices. It is a familiar curve for anyone who follows the town's numbers. The summer season ends, tourism contracts and seasonal jobs in hospitality, beach services and the countryside run out, and the counters start ticking up again. September added 17 people and August two, so October is now the third consecutive monthly increase. The detail is worth noting. Of the 822 registered unemployed, 488 are women, 11 more than in September, and 334 are men, 7 more than in September. The rise is small in absolute terms, but it is broad enough to touch both sides of the local labour market. Despite the autumn drift, the underlying position is the strongest it has been in nearly two decades. The 822 total is the lowest October figure recorded in Manilva since 2007. For comparison, October 2025 closed at 897, October 2024 at 996 and October 2023 at 1,114. In three years the town has cut its October jobless count by more than a quarter. The 2026 curve tells the same story. The year opened at 939 jobless in December and peaked at 978 in January, then fell steadily through spring to a July low of 785, the best level in recent memory. Since August the count has been climbing again as seasonal contracts expire, which is exactly what the historical series shows happening every year. The wider province repeats the pattern. Malaga added 1,062 jobless in October, taking the provincial total to 99,214, itself the lowest October figure since 2007. Andalusia as a whole gained 2,052 people, reaching 539,041 unemployed, while at the national level the count rose by 43,128 to 2,422,633, according to the figures published by the Ministry of Labour and Social Economy. Nationally, the services sector drove the increase with 26,853 more people registered, while construction remained practically flat and agriculture and industry saw much smaller rises. Along the coast, the October data left few places untouched. Marbella posted the largest increase in absolute terms with 269 more jobless, and Malaga capital added 226 to reach 40,014. Torremolinos rose by 138 to 3,886, Fuengirola by 119 to 3,938, Estepona by 92 to 3,197, Benalmadena by 66 to 3,658 and Mijas by 62 to 4,824. Against that backdrop, Manilva's rise of 18 is among the smallest on the coast, with only Benahavis, up 5 to 162, posting a gentler October. The town's employment delegation continues to run its free online employment platform, where local businesses can publish vacancies and residents can register their CVs at no cost. The service is aimed precisely at these months, when seasonal workers are looking for their next contract before the winter season settles in. Manilva's labour market has always swung with the seasons. The local economy leans on tourism, on services for a growing resident population and on the countryside, including the moscatel grape harvest that gives the municipality much of its identity. Autumn is the hinge of the year: the harvest is over, the beaches are emptying and the restaurants are cutting hours. The question for the next few months is how quickly the winter economy absorbs the people coming off summer contracts. If the last three years repeat themselves, the jobless count will keep inching up towards a January peak and then fall again through spring. The starting point this time, 822, is the best the town has carried into that cycle since before the financial crisis. For a municipality that has spent two decades trimming its structural unemployment, a weak October was once normal. Now even the bad months are coming in at levels the town would once have celebrated.