EU unemployment rises

Eurostat reported that the rate of unemployment in the 15 member states of the European Union stood at 8.1 per cent last June, compared to eight per cent in May.

A year earlier the rate of unemployment was 7.7 per cent.

Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Communities based in Luxembourg, said the 8.1 per cent represents 14.4 million unemployed men and women.

The lowest rate of unemployment, 3.7 per cent, was that registered in Luxembourg, while the highest, 11.4 per cent, was that in Spain.

In Malta, the latest statistics available from the Employment and Training Corporation show that in March the number of registered unemployed persons stood at 7,564 (5.2 per cent) or 143 fewer than in February 2003.

In December 2002 the registered unemployed totalled 7,516 (5.2 per cent).

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) carried out between March 17-23 by the National Statistics Office shows that the number of unemployed during March 2003 was 10,586 or 6.6 per cent.

The definitions and criteria used in this LFS match international methodologies used by the International Labour Organisation

The methodology used in the LFS is very different from that employed by the ETC.