Two numbers describe employment at Málaga TechPark, and they differ by more than forty thousand jobs. One counts the people who clock in at Campanillas. The other counts something wider, and it is the one most percentages are built on.
Málaga TechPark is the working name of the Parque Tecnológico de Andalucía, a business and research park created in 1992 in the Campanillas district. Its annual statement counts 29,018 workers inside the site at the close of 2025, 1,088 more than the year before, a rise of 3.89 per cent. That is a headcount, and the percentage everyone quotes is not built on it.
How many people work at Málaga TechPark? 29,018 at the end of 2025, on the park’s own figures, in 719 companies and institutions billing 4,896 million euros. A separate impact study credits it with 70,968 jobs across Andalusia, a wider figure that counts indirect effects rather than staff on site.
Two employment figures that measure different things
The park’s annual statement counts 29,018 workers inside the site at the close of 2025, 1,088 more than the previous year and a rise of 3.89 per cent. That is a headcount.
The impact study commissioned from the IEBSociety reports 70,968 jobs. That is not a headcount but a model: it adds the employment the park’s activity sustains among suppliers and beyond, so each job on site corresponds to nearly 3 jobs in the regional economy, rising to 3.7 once household spending effects are included.
Both figures are correct and they answer different questions. A reader weighing how deep a job market runs wants the first, alongside the 719 companies and institutions and the 4,896 million euros they billed in 2025. A regional government arguing for infrastructure wants the second.
The wider figure carries its own percentages. Those 70,968 jobs equal 2.04 per cent of Andalusian employment, 9.64 per cent of the province’s and 31.56 per cent of the city’s, none of which describes anyone commuting to Campanillas.
The distinction matters because the widely quoted percentages of GDP and employment are calculated on the second figure. When a share of a city’s economy is attributed to a single site, it is normally an impact share, not an output share.
What the 34.97 per cent measures
The figure comes from a study Málaga TechPark commissioned from the Institute of Economics and Business for Society, with a seven-strong research team led by Fernando Isla Castillo and Laura Moniche Bermejo.
Its method is stated openly: Input-Output analysis, type II multipliers and Social Accounting Matrix multipliers, applied to the Andalusian Input-Output Framework and the Andalusian Social Accounting Matrix, both published by the Instituto de Estadística y Cartografía de Andalucía.
On that basis the park’s direct and indirect impact on Andalusian GDP reaches 4,836.31 million euros. That equals 2.33 per cent of Andalusian GDP, 10.68 per cent of the province’s and 34.97 per cent of the city’s.
The multipliers behind those shares are stated plainly. One euro of GDP generated inside the park becomes 2.4 euros of Andalusian GDP counting direct and indirect effects, and 2.9 euros once household induced effects enter. The same exercise puts the impact on output at 10,119.75 million euros, equivalent to 48.01 per cent of the city’s output, with each euro of output becoming 2.6 euros regionally, or 3.0 euros with induced effects. Read carefully, these are statements about what the park’s activity pulls along with it, not about what it manufactures or invoices.
The municipal GDP is an estimate, and the report says so
Beside the summary table on the study’s final page sits a footnote. It reads that the municipal GDP has been estimated using the average productivity of the province of Málaga.
A percentage needs a denominator, and here the denominator is not a measured figure for the city of Málaga. It is derived from provincial productivity, which the authors declare rather than bury.
There is a second condition, this one about timing. The study runs on 2023 turnover and employment data drawn from company registries, described as the most recent available for measuring impact. The 29,018 staff and 4,896 million euros usually quoted alongside it belong to 2025 and were released in March 2026.
Three conditions therefore travel with the figure, and all three are printed in the study itself:
- It measures direct and indirect impact, not output produced inside the park.
- It runs on 2023 trading data, while the staff and turnover figures quoted beside it are from 2025.
- Its denominator, the municipal GDP, is estimated from provincial average productivity.
Neither point makes the study wrong. Together they set the limits of what can be claimed: the park carries real weight in the city’s economy, and the precise measure of that weight rests on an estimated denominator and on an earlier trading year than the operating figures beside it.
A site where 22 nationalities are represented
For anyone reading from outside Spain, the relevant number is not the GDP share but the composition. The park houses 73 foreign-owned companies from 22 countries, and those firms alone employ around 8,000 professionals.
Its resident companies report activity reaching 211 cities across 77 countries. That international spread is what separates the site from a conventional office district serving a regional market.
Concentration is high by sector. Electronics, information technology, computing and telecommunications account for 52 per cent of all employment on site, and the study singles out telecommunications and computer programming and consultancy as the leading branches.
Productivity is measured too. Output per worker stands at 157,199 euros, some 43 per cent above the Andalusian average of 109,800 euros, a 2022 figure and the most recent in the regional accounts. Business spending on research and development passed 255 million euros, up 36.21 per cent, employing 3,275 people directly.
How the weight shifted between two studies
Málaga TechPark has commissioned four impact studies, covering 2011, 2016, 2021 and 2023. Setting the last two side by side shows where the movement happened.
| Level measured | Share of GDP in 2023 | Share of employment in 2023 | GDP change since 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Málaga | 34.97 per cent | 31.56 per cent | up 13.10 points |
| Province of Málaga | 10.68 per cent | 9.64 per cent | up 2.03 points |
| Andalusia | 2.33 per cent | 2.04 per cent | up 0.58 points |
The city line moves an order of magnitude more than the other two. Its GDP share climbs from 21.87 to 34.97 per cent and its employment share from 22.11 to 31.56 per cent across two trading years, while the provincial and regional lines shift by around a point.
The study publishes both values and does not account for the jump. It also does not say whether the method of estimating municipal GDP changed between one edition and the next, so year-on-year comparisons deserve the same caution as the headline figure.
Getting there, and what the access page leaves out
The park’s own directions name two EMT city bus lines, the 19 and the 25, operating between 6:30 and 23:00, plus a service called Line E, PTA Express.
By road it publishes two routes. From the city centre, Avenida de Andalucía and Avenida de Blas Infante lead to the A-357 and exit 61 towards the A-7056. From the airport, the N-340 and A-7 lead to exit 238A, which joins the A-357. The park also runs Zityfy, a carpooling platform for people who work there.
What that page does not publish is as telling as what it does. There is no distance or journey time given from either the centre or the airport, no opening hours and no parking guidance, which is consistent with a working site rather than a destination.
Anyone arriving in the city and needing the rest of the network will find fares and transfers in getting around Malaga, and the run in from the terminal in Malaga airport to the city centre.
What those workers pay to live in the city, district by district, is set out in Malaga rent prices.
The two clocks behind these figures
The operating figures belong to the 2025 annual statement, presented by Málaga TechPark in March 2026. That statement is published each year, so headcount, turnover and investment change annually. Total investment in the site reached 56.5 million euros in the year, of which 54.5 million was private.
The impact percentages run on a slower clock. The IEBSociety report is dated July 2025 and uses 2023 data, following earlier editions for 2011, 2016 and 2021. When the next one appears, all six figures in the table above are replaced.
One more measure of breadth from the study: the park is active in 51 of the 81 branches of activity distinguished by the Andalusian Input-Output Framework, which is unusually broad for a single site.
For the visitor-facing half of the same city economy, the monthly hotel series is in when Malaga is busiest and the resort ranking in which Costa del Sol resort gets the most visitors. Housing pressure and the current registration freeze are covered in Malaga tourist apartment rules, and who holds which power in the city in who decides what in Malaga.
Outside the park, Spain’s remote-work permit carries two clauses that catch people out: an employee may work only for companies based outside Spain, and a freelancer may bill Spanish clients for no more than 20 per cent of their income. Both are set out in Málaga for digital nomads.
Frequently asked questions about Málaga TechPark
How many people work at Málaga TechPark?
29,018 at the end of 2025, on the park’s own annual figures, up by 1,088 on the year before. A separate impact study puts the total employment it supports at 70,968, which is a different measurement entirely.
Does Málaga TechPark produce a third of the city’s economy?
It is credited with 34.97 per cent of the city’s GDP, but that counts direct and indirect impact rather than the park’s own output. The study behind it uses 2023 data and estimates municipal GDP.
How do you get to Málaga TechPark?
EMT city bus lines 19 and 25 serve it between 6:30 and 23:00, alongside a service called Line E, PTA Express. By road it is reached from the A-357 at exit 61, joining the A-7056.
How international is Málaga TechPark?
It houses 73 foreign-owned companies from 22 countries, employing around 8,000 people, and its firms report activity in 211 cities across 77 countries. Foreign capital is a large minority of the site.
Can you visit Málaga TechPark?
Its access page publishes bus lines, road directions and a carpooling platform for staff, but no opening hours, visitor information or parking guidance. It is documented as a workplace rather than as a destination.
Percentages travel further than their footnotes. This one has a footnote worth carrying with it.