Malta ranks 14th in EU jobless list

Malta ended last year in a much better situation than it started, at least when it comes to unemployment.

New unemployment figures published yesterday in Brussels show that Malta's unemployment rate in December fell to seven per cent, as against 7.6 per cent a year earlier. According to Eurostat, Malta's performance in lowering unemployment was demonstrated across the board.

In fact, on a 12-month average, Malta registered a drop in all categories surveyed, including males (from 6.7 to 6.2 per cent), females (from 9.7 to 8.6 per cent) and those under 25 years (from 17.8 to 15.5 per cent). This downward trend in Malta's unemployment figures also reflects what is happening in the other EU member states, where the average unemployment rate fell to 7.6 from 8.5 per cent in just a year.

Malta now has the 14th highest unemployment rate in the EU.

According to Eurostat, the lowest rates last December were registered in Denmark (3.2 per cent), the Netherlands (3.6 per cent), Estonia (4.3 per cent), Ireland (4.4 per cent), and Austria (4.6 per cent). Unemployment rates were highest in Poland (12.8 per cent), Slovakia (12 per cent), Greece (8.7 per cent in the third quarter of 2006), Spain and France (both 8.5 per cent).