An EU analysis of the performance of labour markets in its 27 member states against the current economic slowdown shows that Malta is performing strongly when it comes to job creation.
At the same time, Malta's overall employment rate, already the lowest in the EU, continued to dip further.
The Commission said that Malta was the best performer in the EU when it comes to employment growth in the first half of this year, registering an average growth rate of 3.2 per cent, more than twice the EU27 average of 1.4 per cent. Other strong performers were Cyprus and Slovenia although at a lower rate than Malta.
On the other hand, until last March, only 54.7 per cent of the total working population potential was actually productive, a decrease of 0.4 per cent over the same period last year. Malta's employment rate is the lowest in the EU27 and is mostly influenced by the record number of women who are not active in the labour market. One of Malta's goals according to the Lisbon Agenda is to increase its employment rate, however, it seems that the contrary is happening.
The EU average employment rate in March stood at 65.5 per cent, an increase of one per cent over last year. The EU report shows that Malta is also managing to keep control over its unemployment rate which by the end of the second quarter stood at 5.7 per cent, almost one percentage point less than a year earlier. The average in the EU 27 was 6.8 per cent.
Malta also drastically reduced the number of employees working on a definite contract basis.
Until last March, the number of people working with a fixed-term contract stood at 3.5 per cent, a decrease of 0.8 per cent over March 2007. The rate of fixed-term employees in the EU is much higher standing at 14 per cent in March.
In general, the Commission's analysis shows a moderation in overall labour market performance in the EU following the recent slowdown in economic activity. Quarterly employment growth fell to 0.2 per cent in the second quarter of this year, while the unemployment rate stabilised at 6.8 per cent.
Despite the slowdown, by the second quarter overall employment had still went up by 2.9 million from a year earlier.
The Commission said recent developments such as continuing turmoil in financial markets, rising energy and commodity prices and falling business and consumer confidence may result in the macroeconomic outlook deteriorating further. Economic activity is expected to weaken further in the second half of this year and the outlook for employment and unemployment can be expected to turn more unfavourable.