Almost 34,000 people have a part-time job as their primary employment while just over 41,100 people who are in full-time employment also have a part-time job to make ends meet, figures tabled in parliament show.

According to figures provided by Finance Minister Clyde Caruana in reply to a parliamentary question by Nationalist MP Jerome Caruana Cilia, until the end of September last year, 33,926 people had a part-time job as their primary employment.

Of these, almost 19,000 were women, while 15,000 were men.

The figures show that over 41,100 people had a part-time job as their secondary employment. Of these, 14,500 were women, while 26,600 were men.

According to the latest Labour Force Survey, the total number of persons in employment was 301,441. This was almost six per cent higher when compared to the previous year and accounts for 64.7 per cent of the population aged 15 and over. Unemployed persons stood at 7,723 while inactive persons totalled 156,987.

Answering a separate parliamentary question, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri told parliament that 7,014 people who were still in full- or part-time employment were aged over 70 while  another 3,200 who were still working were over 75 years old.