Malta has mid-range minimum wage

An EU study on working conditions in Europe shows that Malta's statutory minimum wage last year was the most generous when compared to the other new member states and is even better than what is paid in Portugal, which has been an EU member since 1986.

At €580 (Lm252) a month, Malta's minimum wage earners pocket €498 (Lm216) a month more than their Bulgarian counterparts and €143 (Lm62) more than the Portuguese.

At the same time, a Maltese worker on the minimum wage receives €923 (Lm401) less than a person in Luxembourg. The report, issued by the European Foundation for Living and Working Conditions, also shows that most member states are still struggling to hit the Lisbon Strategy target of a 60 per cent employment rate for women.

Malta has the lowest number of females in the EU participating in the workforce.

The exceptions are Denmark and Sweden, which boast a rate of 70 per cent.

When it comes to unemployment, new member states still lag well behind the old EU-15 members. At 14 per cent, Poland has the highest rate of joblessness, followed by Slovakia with 13 per cent. The EU average is just under nine per cent. Malta's unemployment rate stands at seven per cent.

The agency's fourth annual review of working conditions in the EU also found that wide discrepancies still exist in the gender pay gap.