Malta registered the second highest employment growth rate among the 17 member states of the Euro area according to new data published in Brussels yesterday.

According to Eurostat, in 2011 Malta's reported an employment growth rate of 2.3 per cent, much higher than the mere 0.2 per cent average registered in the euro zone.

Among the zone's member states, Malta's growth in employment was only surpassed by Estonia, which saw its employment rate boom by 6.9 percentage points.

On an EU-wide level, Eurostat said that the largest fall in employment was recorded in construction (-1.5 per cent) and the highest increase in real estate activities (+2.2 per cent).

On the downside, Malta's growth in the rate of people in employment was accompanied by a higher than average hourly labour cost rate, which although positive for individual workers is considered to be dangerous in competitive terms.

Eurostat said that in during the last quarter of 2011, Malta's total nominal hourly labour costs compared to the same quarter of 2010 rose by 4 per cent, much higher than the 2.8 per cent average registered in the rest of the euro area.

The steepest growth was observed in the industry sector – incidentally the most competitive sector on a global level – with an annual hourly labour cost rate increase of 7.2 per cent. This was followed by the services industry which reported labour costs up by 3.3 per cent.

On the other hand, nominally hourly labour costs decreased by 2.3 per cent in the construction industry.