The activity rate in Malta’s labour market increased by 8.7 percentage points since 2005, the National Statistics Office said.

It said in a statement that the most significant contribution was the increase in the number of women in the labour market, with the female activity rate increasing from 36.4 per cent in 2005 to 52.1 per cent last year.

The highest changes were in the 25-54 age bracket with an increase of 13.1 percentage points. Comparing national figures with EU28 averages, activity rates were lower than national values for the younger segment of the population (15-24) whereas, as age increased, EU28 averages tended to be higher than Malta’s values.

The rate of early school leavers dropped by 12.6 percentage points but national values were still higher to European averages.

Labour Force Survey estimates indicated that over the past decade more persons in the 25-64 age bracket ere participating in lifelong learning with levels reaching 7.1 per cent in 2014.

The EU28 average for 2014 stood at 10.7 per cent. Of those aged 30-34 years having achieved tertiary level, a constant increase was recorded, from 17.6 per cent in 2005 to 26.6 per cent last year.

The national unemployment rate in 2014 stood at 5.9 per cent as against the EU28 average of 10.2 per cent. Over a span of 10 years, the youth unemployment ratio dropped from 8.6 per cent to 6.2 per cent, whereas a further decrease was also estimated in the long-term unemployment rate with levels reaching 2.8 per cent in 2014.