More women in employment
But Malta still struggling to reach EU job levels
Women are trickling back to the working world, registering a five per cent growth in the five years to 2008, but Malta still ranks last in the EU when it comes to female employment levels.
The percentage of working Maltese women aged 15-64 rose to 37.4 per cent last year, an increase of almost two per cent on the previous year and up from 32.7 per cent in 2004, according to the Employment in Europe report, published by the European Commission in Brussels yesterday.
Italy is one place up from Malta with 47.2 per cent, almost 10 percentage points ahead. The average female employment rate in the EU was 59.1 per cent in 2008. Some member states such as Denmark and Sweden had rates higher than 70 per cent.
Malta's extremely low rate is negatively affecting the island's overall employment level, which at 55.2 per cent was last year also the lowest among member states. The average employment rate in the EU stood at 64.5 per cent.
The report gives an account of the type of employment Malta's working population was engaged in last year: 11.9 per cent were self-employed while 11.5 per cent described their main activity as part-time, up from 10.9 per cent in 2007. Meanwhile, 4.3 per cent of those employed had a fixed-term contract, down from 5.1 per cent in 2007.
The report also sheds light on the effect the recession had on employment in the EU. Although Malta is affected, with unemployment levels increasing in the past year, the extent is not as severe as that in other member states.
According to the report, by September 2009 Malta's unemployment rate increased by more than one per cent when compared to the previous 12 months but the increase in the EU was much worse.
The unemployment rate in the EU has remained on an upward trend since spring last year and by September 2009 had increased to 9.2 per cent, a rise of 2.5 percentage points compared to spring 2008.
Malta's unemployment rate last September stood at 7.2 per cent.
The European Commission said that although the recession was felt in all member states, the severity of the unemployment increase varied widely across countries.
"The increase has been precipitous in certain member states (unemployment rates roughly doubled over the last year in Ireland and Spain, and tripled in the Baltic States) but in contrast unemployment remained remarkably low in Austria and the Netherlands."
The only EU member state which registered a growth in employment despite the recession was Luxembourg.