The unemployment rate in Malta rose slightly by 0.1 per cent in April over the previous month but remained almost static when compared to the year before, according to Eurostat.

Despite the recession, Malta outperformed other eurozone countries in terms of unemployment and managed to keep the number of jobless at practically the same levels over the past 12 months.

All the other eurozone members, excluding Germany, saw their unemployment levels rise dramatically in the same period as the economy passed through one of its worst moments in decades.

Eurostat said Malta's unemployment rate last April stood at seven per cent, almost the same as in April 2009, which had stood at 6.9 per cent. On the other hand, unemployment in the 16-member eurozone in April reached 10.1 per cent, up from 9.2 per cent 12 months earlier.

The statistics also show that while unemployment among Maltese males increased to 6.9 per cent last April from 6.5 per cent in April 2009, the number of females looking for a job dropped to 7.2 per cent from 7.7 per cent.

The most affected in Malta were those under 25 with unemployment in this age group rising to 15.2 per cent in the past year from 14.5 per cent.

On an EU level, the latest statistics show that the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (4.1 per cent) and Austria (4.9 per cent), while the highest were in Latvia (22.5 per cent), Spain (19.7 per cent) and Estonia (19 per cent).