Malta’s unemployment rate at record low

In June, Malta’s unemployment rate fell to 5.6%, the lowest rate since Eurostat started collecting data in January 2000.

In a statement issued today, government said the statistics contradict the opposition’s recent predictions that Malta’s unemployment rate was set to increase to a new record.

However, government said that the statistics on unemployment and the European Commission survey on consumer confidence “confirm the country’s success.”

The statement added that the figures show that Malta now has the third lowest unemployment rate in Europe, behind Germany and Austria.

The gap between Malta and Austria, the country with the lowest unemployment rate in Europe, has decreased to 0.6 percentage points.

Noting that in the final month under the previous Nationalist administration the unemployment rate stood at 6.3% and the mean unemployment rate between January 2000 and March 2013 was 6.9%, the government said that since the 2013 election,  the number of people seeking employment decreased by 17%, equivalent to around 2000 people.