Malta has so far managed to keep its unemployment levels among the lowest in the EU, according to the latest data published in Brussels yesterday.

The island’s unemployment figure last November stood at 6.4 per cent, the fifth lowest among the 27 member states and almost four per cent less than the average in the eurozone which stood at 10.3 per cent, according to Eurostat.

Malta’s unemployment in November remained the same as in the previous month but fell by 0.4 per cent when compared to November 2010.

Unemployment in the euro area went in the opposite direction with the number of those seeking a job increasing by 0.3 per cent over the last 12 months.

The highest unemployment rates were registered in Spain (22.9 per cent) and Greece (18.8 per cent) while the lowest were in Austria (four per cent) and Luxembourg (4.9 per cent).

The EU’s statistics office estimated that 23.6 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 16.3 million in the eurozone, were unemployed last November.

In Malta, unemployment in the same month was the highest among those under 25 – 14.3 per cent – an increase of 0.8 per cent on November 2010. Unemployment was lowest among men, at 6.1 per cent, while the number of females seeking a job stood at 7.1 per cent.