Unemployment in Malta increased by 0.5 per cent over the past year, reaching 6.9 per cent in February, figures published by Eurostat yesterday show.

According to the EU’s statistics arm, while unemployment in Europe is on a downward trend, dipping to 10.6 per cent last February, Malta is going in the opposite direction, with the number of those seeking a job increasing almost every month.

Almost hitting the seven per cent mark in February, unemployment in Malta grew across the board in the past year, the highest rise being experienced among men, up 6.8 per cent in February when compared to 6.2 per cent a year earlier.

Women seeking jobs stood at seven per cent, up from 6.5 per cent in February 2013, and 13.9 per cent of those under 25 were registering for work last February.

Despite the increasing unemployment rate, the job situation on the island is not bad when compared to the rest of the EU. Though falling from 10.9 per cent to 10.6 per cent in February 2013, the EU average is still much higher than Malta’s.

Eurostat said Malta still had the fifth lowest unemployment rate among the 28 EU member states. The highest rate in February was registered in Greece (27.5 per cent) followed by Spain (25.6 per cent) and Hungary (17.6 per cent). Austria had the lowest level (4.8 per cent) followed by Germany (5.1 per cent).

Eurostat estimates that almost 26 million men and women were unemployed within the EU last February, a drop of 619,000 compared to a year earlier.