MaltaMedia.com

Registered unemployed in September down by 11.5%

Posted on November 5th, 2010

In September the registered unemployed decreased by 866 persons when compared to the same period of 2009, the National Statistics Office (NSO) revealed on Friday.

The NSO said the registered unemployed for September stood at 6,655, an 11.5 per cent drop when compared to 2009 but an increase of 66 persons, or 1.0 per cent over August 2010.

The number of registered unemployed in Malta totalled 5,980, whereas an additional 675 persons were registered in Gozo. Over the one year period ending in September, unemployment decreased by 771 and 95 in Malta and Gozo respectively. This decline was also observed across all age groups.

Moreover, NSO added, there was a decrease of 634 persons registering for work for less than 20 weeks when compared to the previous year. On the other hand, persons registering for employment for over one year went up by 82.

The statistics showed that men tend to go for trades and women tend to be oriented towards clerical occupations, both sexes have the same inclination towards service jobs.

In April 2010, the registered unemployment rate stood at 5.0 per cent of the labour supply (excluding part-timers). On a gender basis, the unemployment rate for men stood at 5.8 per cent, while that for women stood at 3.4 per cent NSO said.

The long-term unemployment rate, referring to persons who have been registering for work for more than twelve months, stood at 1.8 per cent.

NSO reported that amongst older workers (45 and over) the unemployment rate was 5.2 per cent. The rate in respect of younger people (under 25) stood at 6.2 per cent.