Almost one in every five part-timers would like and can work more hours if given the chance, according to Eurostat’s latest Labour Force Survey.

About 4,000 of the 21,000 employees in Malta who only hold a part-time job do not work as much as they would like to, a situation described by the EU as “underemployment”.

On the other hand, the majority of Maltese part-timers, mostly women, are satisfied with the number of hours they work and prefer not to do more.

With 19 per cent of Maltese part-timers considered to be underemployed, the island is almost on a par with the EU average, where the number of underemployed at the end of last year stood at 8.6 million, or 20.5 per cent of the 42 million part-timers across the 27 member states.

Eurostat said that, last year, 13.1 per cent of the total Maltese workforce consisted of part-timers, well below the EU average of 19.4 per cent.

Among member states, the largest proportion of part-time workers wishing to put in more hours and were available to do so were found in Greece (58 per cent), Latvia (57 per cent), Spain (49 per cent) and Cyprus (42 per cent).

On the other hand, the lowest proportion was found in the Netherlands and Belgium (both three per cent), followed by Luxembourg (nine per cent) and the Czech Republic (10 per cent).

Malta has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the EU.

At 6.8 per cent in March, the island’s jobless rate was four percentage points below the eurozone’s.

The number of underemployed Maltese part-timers in 2010 had also been put at 4,000.