Unemployed down to under 1,000 in Malta

The number of people registering for work in June 2022 in Malta dropped under the 1,000 mark, standing at 954 after decreasing by 757 when compared to the corresponding month in 2021.

A new release by the National Statistics Office, based on data provided by JobsPlus, showed that registered unemployment levels decreased across all age groups for both males and females.

Males accounted for 72.3 per cent of total registrants while females accounted for the remaining 27.7 per cent.

Persons who had been registering for work for less than 21 weeks and those who had been registering between 21 and 52 weeks decreased when compared to the same month in 2021. A higher drop was recorded amongst those persons who were registering for work for more than one year.

In June 2022, the number of persons with a disability who were registering for work decreased by 22 when compared to the previous year, reaching 231 persons. Males accounted for 77.1 per cent of total registrants with a disability.

The largest share of males and females on the unemployment register sought occupations as clerical support workers, with 22 per cent and 38.3 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, June unemployment stood at six percent in the European Union, and 6.6 per cent in the Eurozone. Both were stable when compared to the previous month, and down from 7.2 per cent and 7.9 per cent respectively in June 2021.

Eurostat estimates that 12.9 million men and women in the EU, of whom 10.9 million in the euro area, were unemployed in June 2022. Compared with June 2021, unemployment decreased by 2.3 million in the EU and by 1.96 million in the euro area.

Amidst the ongoing problems faced by the global economy, unemployment remains a buffer against recession. In the USA, despite a second consecutive quarter registering a shrinking economy, typically the marker for an official recession, a low unemployment rate of 3.6 per cent has prevented the worst effects from spreading.