The Maltese economy is doing well, in terms of real GDP and employment growth. It has been doing well for some years.
We are often informed that Malta registers one of the lowest rates of unemployment in the EU. This is true, and has been so for some years.
However, we are not often told that Malta has one of the lowest rates of employment, particularly because of the low labour force participation rate of women.If more men and women decided to join the formal labour force today, the unemployment rate would soar.
There is however an important positive aspect in the employment rate data, namely that it has increased over the years. The 20-64 age bracket was 60 per cent in 2010 and this increased to 67 per cent in 2014.