Unemployment in December rose by 1,307 compared to December 2008 and reached 7,680, the NSO said today.

It was also up by 92 over November.

The NSO said there were 6,879 people registering for work in Malta and 801 in Gozo.

In the 12 months to December 2009, the registered unemployed increased across all the age groups. In percentage terms, however, the aged groups comprising persons aged 45 and over and the persons aged under 20 reported an increase of 31.5 per cent and 25.7 per cent respectively in the rate of registrations on an annual basis.

In December 2009, the number of persons whose duration of unemployment was under 20 weeks increased by 513 when compared to December 2008.There were 449 people looking for a job, up 150 over the year.

The highest number of job seekers were within the categories of service workers, shop and market sales workers, and craft and related trade workers.

On their part, women are registering for jobs as clerks, service workers and shop and market sales workers.