Unemployment in Malta below EU average - Eurostat

The number of people registering for work in Malta continued to decline, consistent with the trend over the past 12 months, data released by the European Union shows.

According to the statistics published yesterday by the EU's statistics arm, Eurostat, the level of unemployment in Malta in July was 6.5 per cent, placing Malta 11th among the 25 EU member states.

Eurostat said that Malta's level of unemployment last July was 2.1 percentage points lower than the average in the EU 25. When compared to the situation a year earlier, the unemployment in Malta registered a drop of almost one percentage point, from 7.3 per cent in July 2004 to 6.5 per cent this July.

Lower unemployment was registered across all the sectors monitored by the EU. The number of males registering for work in July 2005 stood at six per cent, a decrease of 1.1 per cent on July 2004 while the number of females dropped slightly to 7.6 per cent from 7.8 per cent in the same month of 2004.

The biggest drop was registered among the under 25s with those registering for work decreasing from 16.5 per cent in July 2004 to 15.1 per cent in July this year. The average of unemployment among people aged under 25 in the EU 25 last July was 18.5 per cent.

According to Eurostat, Ireland had the lowest unemployment rate - 4.3 per cent - in July followed by the UK and Denmark. The highest level of unemployment was in Poland and in the Slovak Republic.