Figures published by the National Statistics Office on the registered unemployment in July have sparked controversy between the two main political parties.

There was a drop of 318 unemployed persons, or 4.7 per cent, last month compared to the same month in 2010. However, compared to the previous month, the number of the registered unemployed rose by 298.

The Labour Party’s spokesman for employment, Anġlu Farrugia said the figures showed unemployment was on the rise. He accused the government of juggling figures to suit its agenda.

He said another case in point was the Central Bank’s quarterly review, where the section on consumer confidence said the “consumer confidence indicator edged up in the second quarter of 2011 though the balance of replies remained negative”.

In a reaction, the PN accused Dr Farrugia of misinterpreting statistics and of ignoring the fact that the country was managing to generate work. It said the statistics showed that employment over the last year increased by 6,000 jobs and that unemployment, at 6.2 per cent, was the fifth lowest across the EU.