24,000 new jobs created under current administration

With 24,348 persons finding full-time employment in the three years up to June 2016, the current administration had created more than double the amount of full-time job opportunities registered in five years under the previous administration, government said on Monday.

This came down to 20 new full-time jobs every day, with private services registering the largest increase, it said in reaction to employment data released by the National Statistics Office.

4,600 administration vacancies were filled, complementing 2,700 jobs in technical services, 1,700 in financial services and 1,400 jobs in information and communication.

Jobs in the retail sector rose by 1,700, while those in the hotels and restaurants sector and the gaming services sector rose by 1,800 and 3,100 respectively.

The government said that the manufacturing and construction industries – which under the previous administration had registered significant job losses – had seen a rise in full-time employment, with 500 more full-time jobs recorded in manufacturing and 900 in construction, in the three years up to June 2016.

Nine out of 10 new full-time jobs under this administration were in the private sector, which recorded 21,513 new jobs, and contrary to the opposition’s claims that new jobs were being created in the public sector, the government said.

The sister island of Gozo had registered more than 1,400 new full-time jobs under this administration, more than double the number of jobs created in the five years under the previous administration.

Official NSO data revealed that in June 2016, registered full-time employment increased by 4.4% while part-time employment as a primary job increased by 4.8% when compared to the same month in 2015.