Malta had the fourth lowest unemployment rate among the 28 EU member states in June, according to data published yesterday.

At 6.1 per cent, Eurostat said the island’s unemployed rate was 0.5 per cent below that of June 2012.

The only other EU members posting lower unemployment rates were Austria (4.6 per cent), Germany (5.4 per cent) and Luxembourg (5.7 per cent).

While the EU’s average jobless rate in June reached 10.9 per cent, some member states are experiencing record highs.

The top rates were registered in Greece and Spain, where more than one in every four adults is without a job.

Malta’s unemployment was highest among the 25-year-old cohort, at 11.2 per cent, which was significantly down from 14.7 per cent just a year earlier.

Unemployment among men rose by 0.1 per cent to 6.3 per cent while the number of women looking for work decreased from 7.2 per cent in June 2012 to 5.7 per cent in June 2013.

States with lower unemployment were Austria, Germany and Luxembourg

Eurostat estimates that more than 26.4 million men and women were unemployed in the EU in June 2013, a drop of 32,000 compared to the previous months but more than a million more over a 12-month period.