Malta’s unemployment rate inched upwards slightly in November to reach 4.8 per cent, new data released on Friday indicated. 

The 4.8 per cent rate was 0.1 percentage points higher than that registered one month prior and 1.2 percentage points higher than that registered in November 2019. 

Malta continues to outperform the EU average, which in November of last year stood at 7.5 per cent. When only eurozone countries are considered, the average unemployment rate that month was even higher, at 8.3 per cent. 

Malta’s 4.8 per cent rate translates to 13,081 people. Of those, 3,365 were classified as youths, with the other 9,716 unemployed people aged between 25 and 74. 

The unemployment rate is calculated based on EU-wide definitions applied in the National Statistics Office’s labour force survey and defines the percentage of the labour force that is not working. It differs from unemployment data provided by Jobsplus, which only includes people registering for work through the state jobs agency. 

According to Jobsplus data, the number of people registered as unemployed stood at  2,898 by the end of November.