Eight per cent of children live in jobless households

Eleven per cent of the population, including more than eight per cent of all children, live in jobless households, according to the National Statistics Office.

Of those aged 15 and over, one in 10 are actually unemployed. Most of the rest are housewives, retirees or students.

For the past four years, the average number of persons living in jobless households was 43,476. The average number of women in this situation was about 24,000 - a figure that has exceeded the number of men throughout the four years.

The mean household size of jobless households during the past four years was of 2.2 persons, the NSO said in its analysis. Most of the persons living in jobless households were over 45 years old, with an average of 45.1 per cent in the 45 - 64 age bracket.

Last December, out of every 100 men aged between 18 - 59, eight lived in jobless households, while the figure for females in the same age bracket was 11.

The average number of children (aged less than 17 years) living in jobless households was estimated to be 8,163, making up an average of 8.6 per cent of the total population of children between 0 - 17 years old.

From the data available, it is evident that the distribution of the persons living in jobless households was not even in the different regions of the Maltese Islands.

The average number of persons living in jobless households in the south and north harbour region was 29.9 per cent, while the average for the rest of the regions was 10.6 per cent.

The statistics classify the persons living in jobless households (15+ years) by education level. Those with a minimum of post-secondary education background are more likely to be employed. In fact, only an average of 7.7 per cent of persons living in jobless households had a post-secondary education, or higher.

By contrast, an average of 92.3 per cent (33,761 persons) were estimated to have a maximum of secondary education, whereas another 56.4 per cent had a primary level of education, or less.

The statistics also classify the number of persons aged 15 and over living in jobless households by labour status. Over the past four years, an average of 10 per cent were estimated to be unemployed and, of these, 56.7 per cent registered with the ETC.

A further 90 per cent were estimated to be inactive - the majority of which, 39.1 per cent, were housewives, followed by an average of 33.5 per cent, who were retired. Additionally, an average of five per cent of the number of inactive persons were students.