Unemployment up 9.5% over July 2012

Data provided by the Employment and Training Corporation (ETC), indicate a year-on-year growth of 820 persons (13.7 per cent) registering under Part 1 and a decrease of 186 persons (27.8 per cent) registering under Part 2 of the unemployment register.

On a regional level, registered unemployment in Malta rose by 576 (9.6 per cent) to 6,565 while that in Gozo and Comino increased by 58 (8.6 per cent) to 733. The number of registrants aged 45 and over went up by 227 or 8.1 per cent, while those aged under 20 dropped by 48, or 10.7 per cent, when compared to 2012 levels.

A year-on-year increase of 543 persons was recorded in registrants whose duration of unemployment exceeded one year. There was a marginal increase of 34 in unemployment among persons who had been registering for less than 21 weeks. On the other hand, the number of persons with disability registering under Part 1 and Part 2 of the unemployment register dropped by 4.5 per cent when compared to June 2012.

In line with past trends, the largest share of unemployed men were seeking occupations in services, sales and crafts, whereas women mostly sought clerical jobs.

The registered unemployment rate in March stood at 4.6 per cent of the labour supply, and varied from 5.3 per cent among men to 3.1 per cent among women. The registered unemployment rate for persons aged under 25 stood at 5.5 per cent, while that concerning persons aged 45 and over stood at 5.1 per cent. The long-term unemployment rate stood at 1.7 per cent.