Over a span of 10 years starting from 2005, the percentage of people aged between 15 and 64 who were working increased by 8.7 percentage points. The most significant contribution to this increase was the presence of more women, with the female activity rate increasing from 36.4 per cent in 2005 to 52.1 per cent in 2014.

The National Statistics Offices reported last week that the age bracket with the highest changes in activity was the 25 to 54 group with an increase of 13.1 percentage points between 2005 and 2014.

Malta’s youths (aged 15 to 24) are more active in the workforce than their EU counterparts, with a 52.3 per cent activity rate compared with the EU28’s average of 41.7 per cent. But as the Maltese get older, the balance shifts in the EU28’s favour. For the 25 to 54 age bracket, Malta’s activity rate is 79.5 per cent, while that for the EU28 is 85.5 per cent. And for the 55 to 64 age bracket, Malta’s is just 40.3 per cent, compared with the EU28’s 55.9 per cent.

The NSO also reported that the rate of early school leavers (ESL) dropped by 12.6 percentage points between 2005 and 2014 to reach 20.4 per cent. Although the situation has improved, Malta still lags the EU28, which has an ESL rate of 11.1 per cent.

The report also showed that the share of self employment has maintained the same levels between 2005 and 2014 whereas the share of part-time employees has increased by 7.2 percentage points over the same period. Fixed-term contract employment has also increased by 3.4 percentage points over the past decade.

The national unemployment rate in 2014 stood at 5.9 per cent as against the EU28 average of 10.2 per cent. Over the 10 years, the youth unemployment ratio dropped from 8.6 per cent to 6.2 per cent (EU28: 9.1 per cent), whereas a further decrease was also estimated in the long-term unemployment rate with levels reaching 2.8 per cent in 2014 (EU28: five per cent).

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