Malta one of EU leaders in cutting jobless rate

Malta had one of the largest relative declines in unemployment among EU states in February, marking its 13th consecutive fall in the jobless rate.

Figures released yesterday by Eurostat, the EU's statistical arm, showed that the EU25 unemployment rate was 8.9 per cent in February, unchanged compared to January. It was nine per cent in February 2004.

Eurostat estimates that in February, 19.1 million people were unemployed across the EU.

Thirteen member states recorded a decrease in their unemployment rate over a year, one remained stable and 11 reported an increase.

The largest relative decreases were observed in Lithuania (11.6 per cent to 8.9 per cent), Estonia (9.9 per cent to eight per cent), Malta (7.8 per cent to 6.8 per cent) and Slovakia (18.5 per cent to 16.2 per cent).

Cyprus (five per cent to 5.6 per cent), Portugal (6.3 per cent to 6.9 per cent) and the Netherlands (4.3 per cent in December 2003 to 4.7 per cent in December 2004) registered the highest relative increases.

The lowest rates were registered in Ireland (4.3 per cent), Luxembourg (4.4 per cent), Austria (4.6 per cent), the United Kingdom (4.6 per cent in December 2004) and the Netherlands.

Unemployment rates were highest in Poland (18.1 per cent), Slovakia, Greece (10.5 per cent in September 2004) and Spain (10.3 per cent).