The number of Maltese women registering for work increased by one percentage point to 8.2 per cent over the past year, according to statistics released in Brussels.

This significant rise is possibly due to the fact that more women are seeking to enter the labour market and benefit from incentives offered by the authorities.

“Malta still has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the eurozone but, since more Maltese women are choosing to work, the amount of those who are not working is on the rise,” according to Eurostat officials.

Figures show that between 2005 and 2010 the rate of women in employment in Malta shot up by 6.5 per cent, hitting the 41.6 per cent mark in 2010.

The trend is expected to persist as more women pursue their studies at the University, more family-friendly measures are introduced and facilities continue to develop.

In general, Malta’s unemployment rate in March stood at 6.8 per cent, unchanged from February and slightly higher than March 2011, when it stood at 6.3 per cent.

On the other hand, the unemployment rate in the eurozone continued to reach record highs in March, standing at 10.9 per cent.

Compared to the rest of the eurozone, Malta had the fifth best unemployment figures in the area, following Austria (four per cent), the Netherlands (five per cent), Luxembourg (5.2 per cent) and Germany (5.6 per cent).

The worst performers were Greece (21.7 per cent) and Spain (24.1 per cent), reflecting the bad state of their economies.

Eurostat estimates that 24.7 million men and women in the EU, including 17.3 million in the eurozone, were unemployed in March 2012. Compared with March 2011, the jobless rose by 2.1 million in the EU and by 1.7 million in the eurozone.