At 5,566 persons registering for work, statistics just released for April show that Malta has now reached an all-time record low in unemployment, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo told Parliament yesterday when moving the financial estimates for the Employment and Training Corporation for 2015.
The sectors benefiting the most from low unemployment were those which always used to suffer the most – such as young people, those over 55, those at the risk of poverty, and other vulnerable groups including persons with disability.
Youth unemployment was especially down and this came about through Youth Employment Guarantee scheme which the Opposition had tried to mock by comparing it with a guarantee for a washing machine, Mr Bartolo said.
Unemployment among the youth especially down
In the over-55-year-old group, which used to suffer the most exclusion in the job market, unemployment had fallen 17 per cent and now stood at 513. Those at risk of poverty, who had been registering for more than one year, had seen a 21 per cent decrease.
Even if unemployed persons with disability decreased by 22 per cent to 117, in this sector the unemployment figures were actually higher as many were not identified because they had never registered for work.
To this end, Mr Bartolo announce the formation of the Lino Spiteri Foundation for Inclusive Employment in tribute to the late Labour minister who had spent so many years working in this sector.
The foundation would provide funds to those companies which wished to train those with a disability.