August unemployment up by 8.9% over 2012

Data provided by the Employment and Training Corporation (ETC), indicate a year-on-year growth of 781 persons (12.6 per cent) registering under Part 1 and a drop of 177 persons (27.8 per cent) registering under Part 2 of the unemployment register.

On a regional level, registered unemployment in Malta rose by 9.2 per cent to 6,701, while that in Gozo went up by 6.2 per cent to 724. The number of registrants aged 45 and over went up by 6.9 per cent, while those aged under 20 dropped by 7.6 per cent when compared to 2012 levels.

A year-on-year increase of 551 persons was recorded in registrants whose duration of unemployment exceeded one year. On the other hand, persons who had been registering for less than 21 weeks decreased marginally. There was also a slight downward shift in the number of registrants with disability, who numbered 520 during the month under review.

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

The registered unemployment rate in April 2013 stood at 4.4 per cent of the labour supply, and varied from 5.2 per cent among men to 3.0 per cent among women. The registered unemployed rate among persons aged 45 and over stood at 5.0 per cent while that for persons under 25 reached 5.3 per cent. The long-term unemployment rate increased by 0.2 percentage points when compared to last year's levels, to 1.7 per cent.