Fall in jobless rate among biggest in EU

Malta has seen one of the largest relative declines in unemployment rates among the 25 EU members in the last year, according to Eurostat, the statistical arm of the European Union.

While giving details of the unemployment rates in all the EU member states for January, Eurostat said Malta had managed to cut the number of people looking for work to 6.9 per cent of the workforce in January, a fall of nearly a percentage point when compared to January 2004, when it was 7.7 per cent. Malta's unemployment rate fell constantly over the year.

The figures also show that Malta's unemployment rate compares well with the EU average, which stands at 8.8 per cent.

Eurostat said that last January, the lowest rates were registered in Ireland (4.3 per cent), Luxembourg (4.4 pr cent) and Austria (4.5 per cent). Unemployment rates were highest in Poland (18.2 per cent), Slovakia (16.5 per cent), Greece (10.5 per cent in June 2004) and Spain (10.3 per cent).

Among the member states for which recent data are available, 12 recorded a decrease in their unemployment rate over a year, four remained stable and seven reported an increase.

The largest relative decreases were observed in Lithuania (11.7 per cent to 9.1 per cent), Estonia (9.9 per cent to 8.1 per cent), Denmark (5.7 per cent in December 2003 to 5.1 per cent in December 2004) and Malta.

The highest relative increase were seen in Cyprus (five per cent to 5.6 per cent), the Netherlands (4.3 per cent in December 2003 to 4.7 per cent in December 2004), Luxembourg (four per cent to 4.4 per cent), Portugal (6.3 per cent to 6.9 per cent) and Hungary (5.7 per cent to 6.3 per cent).

This January, as compared to January 2004, the unemployment rate for males in Malta declined from 6.9 per cent to 6.6 per cent and from 9.5 per cent to 7.7 per cent in the case of females.

Progress was also registered in the unemployment rate for those under 25, which dropped to 15.4 per cent from 17.8 per cent a year before.