Malta's 3.7 per cent increase in employment rates when compared to the same period last year was the best such growth across the European Union, the government boasted in a statement today. 

Eurostat figures released today showed that employment increased by an average of 1.4 per cent across the EU in the first three months of 2016 when compared to the same quarter in 2015. 

The figures showed that the Czech Republic (+1.5 per cent) recorded the highest increase in employment when compared to the previous quarter. Poland (-0.5 per cent) did worst when compared to the previous quarter. 

Malta, with a 3.7 per cent increase, recorded the highest increase when compared to the same period the previous year. Romania fared worst on this metric, with employment down by half a percentage point when compared to the same period of 2015. 

In a statement, the government noted that locally, employment was increasing at more than twice the EU average rate. 

"In the five years of the previous legislature, employment grew by an average of 2 per cent, with growth more than doubling from the start of this legislature," the statement read. 

The government highlighted remote gaminbg, real estate, ICT and other technical fields as areas of particular success. Hotels, restaurants, wholesale and retail sectors had also grown, it said. 

The statement said that the Government would be introducing further measures "so that the effects of a healthy economy continue to change families' lives for the better."