Malta continues to have the third-lowest unemployment rate across the European Union, new figures released by Eurostat today show. 

The country's 4.1 per cent jobless figure for April was only bettered by Germany's 3.9 per cent and the Czech Republic's EU-topping 3.2 per cent rate. 

Greece (23.3 per cent) and Spain (17.8 per cent) registered the highest unemployment rates across the EU. 

Unemployment across the eurozone averaged 9.3 per cent in April, compared to 9.4 per cent the previous month. In the EU as a whole, unemployment stood at 7.8 per cent - the bloc's best performance since December 2008. 

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate in April fell in 27 member states and remained stable in Finland. The largest decreases were registered in Croatia (from 13.7 per cent to 11.0 per cent), Spain (from 20.4 per cent to 17.8 per cent) and Ireland (from 8.4 per cent to 6.4 per cent).

Youth unemployment

Eurostat figures show that the unemployment rate among under-25s stood at 13.5 per cent in Malta throughout April. This was marginally higher than the 13.3 per cent March figure and the 9.8 per cent registered 12 months ago.

Youth unemployment across the EU as a whole stood at 16.7 per cent, with that figure rising to 18.7 per cent within the eurozone. 

Germany registered the lowest youth unemployment figure with 6.8 per cent while Greece (47.9 per cent in February), Spain (39.3 per cent) and Italy (34 per cent) fared worst.