Malta registered a slight improvement in its unemployment rate last September, according to statistics released by Eurostat - the EU's statistical arm. According to the latest publication, Malta's unemployment rate in September stood at 8.4 per cent, unchanged from the previous month and 0.6 per cent lower than the average rate in the 25 EU member states.

According to the statistics, Malta's unemployment rate is at its lowest for the past year. In September 2003, the unemployment rate stood at 8.6 per cent or 0.2 per cent more than this September.

When compared to the other EU member states, Malta's unemployment rate stands in the middle ground. The highest number of people registering for work are to be found in Poland, with a rate of 18.7 per cent last September. The lowest is in Luxembourg, with only 4.3 per cent of the workforce registered as unemployed.

The Eurostat figures for September also show that the unemployment figures in the eurozone areas stood at 8.9 per cent in September, unchanged from August. At the same time, the US unemployment rate was 5.4 per cent and the Japanese rate was 4.6 per cent.

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