Malta had the second highest employment growth in the euro area in the first three months of the year despite being in a “statistical” recession, according to figures published in Brussels yesterday.

Eurostat said that, between January and March, the island registered an increase of 0.9 per cent in its employment rate when compared to the last quarter of 2011 and an increase of 1.9 compared to the same period last year.

Malta’s performance was only surpassed by Estonia, where employment grew by 3.2 per cent over the same period of 2011.

While over a period of 12 months, Malta managed to increase its jobs by almost two per cent, the euro area’s average dropped by 0.5 per cent.

At the same time, not all sectors have been doing well.

Figures release by the National Statistics Office show that the construction industry saw a drop of five per cent in employment during the first three months of the year.

Compared to the fourth quarter of last year, employment and gross wages declined by 1.5 and 0.5 per cent while new permits increased by 1.9 per cent.

The economic turmoil in certain parts of the eurozone, particularly Greece, is also negatively affecting job creation.

Greece, which had to be bailed out twice, suffered a 8.7 per cent drop in its employment levels over a 12-month period up to last March, followed by a 4.2 per cent fall in Portugal and 3.7 per cent loss in Spain.

Eurostat said that the highest drop in employment was recorded in construction (1.3 per cent in the euro area and 0.8 per cent in the EU27) and the highest increase in information and communication (1.0 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively).

Eurostat estimates that, in the first quarter of 2012, there were 222.9 million people in employment in the EU27, of whom 146.1 million were in the eurozone.