Updated | Increases in full-time and part-time employment in June

Administrative data provided by the ETC show that over a period of one year, the labour supply (excluding part-timers) increased by 3.4 per cent, reaching 170,548. This was mainly attributed to an increase in the full-time gainfully occupied population (+6,134) and a drop in registered unemployment (-528).

In the month under review, the Administrative and Support Services Activities and the Human Health and Social Work Activities contributed mostly to the increase in employment, compared to the corresponding month last year. Registered full-time employment in the private sector went up by 4,026 persons, to 119,858. Public sector full-time employment increased by 2,108 persons to 43,939.

The number of persons registered as full-time self-employed rose by 506 when compared to June last year, while the number of persons registered as employees increased by 5,628. Male and female full-time employment went up by 2.8 per cent and 5.8 per cent respectively over 2013 levels.

Registered part-time employment in June went up by 5.9 per cent when compared to last year. The sectors that contributed mostly to the overall increase in part-time employment were Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles (+648 persons), followed by Accommodation and Food Service activities (+510).

In June, the number of part-timers who also held a full-time job amounted to 24,472, up by 4.3 per cent when compared to the corresponding month last year. Employed persons whose part-time job was their primary occupation totalled 35,639 up by nearly 7.0 per cent, or 2,329 persons, when compared to 2013 levels.

Welcoming the statistics, the Labour administration said an average of 17 full-time jobs were created every day during its first 16 months. According to the government, the rate at which new jobs were created was double that registered under the previous government.

“The best indicator of a healthy economy is the jobs created by the private sector, which amounted to over 6,500 new full-time jobs, an average of 14 jobs a day,” the government said.

It added that even the sectors considered to be faring badly by the Opposition registered significant improvement. Manufacture registered 235 new full-time jobs while 529 full-time workers joined wholesale and retail.

“The change in direction was mostly felt in Gozo where full-time jobs increased by 714. In other words, the rate of job creation in Gozo was eight times better than that registered during the last 16 months of a Nationalist administration,” the government said.