This release presents key indicators for monitoring employment for ten consecutive years starting from 2005 to 2014, the National Statistics Office said.
Labour force
Over a span of ten years starting from 2005, the activity rate increased by 8.7 percentage points. The most significant contribution to this increase was the presence of more females in the labour market, with the female activity rate increasing from 36.4 per cent in 2005 to 52.1 per cent in 2014. The age bracket with the highest changes was the 25-54 group with an increase of 13.1 percentage points between 2005 and 2014.
When comparing national figures with EU28 averages, it can be noted that activity rates are lower than national values for the younger segment of the population (15-24) whereas as age increases, EU28 averages tend to be higher than Malta’s values.
Education
The rate of early school leavers (ESL) dropped by 12.6 percentage points between 2005 and 2014. Though females have had the lower rates throughout the whole time series, the highest drop in ESL rates was recorded among males. Although Malta’s levels for this indicator declined over the reference period, national values are still higher when compared to European averages.
Labour Force Survey estimates indicate that over the past decade more persons in the 25-64 age bracket are participating in lifelong learning with levels reaching 7.1 per cent in 2014. The EU28 average for 2014 stood at 10.7 per cent. Of the persons aged 30-34 years having achieved tertiary level, a constant increase was recorded over the period of ten years, from 17.6 per cent in 2005 to 26.6 per cent in 2014.
Employment
The behaviour of employment and activity rates among different age groups is quite similar. The share of employment in services sector has increased during the period under review, with the rate rising by 11.7 percentage points over the past decade.
The share of self employment has kept the same levels between 2005 and 2014 whereas the share of part-time employees has increased by 7.2 percentage points over the same period. Fixed-term contract employment has also increased by 3.4 percentage points over the past decade.
Unemployment
The national unemployment rate in 2014 stood at 5.9 per cent as against the EU28 average of 10.2 per cent. Over a span of ten years, the youth unemployment ratio dropped from 8.6 per cent to 6.2 per cent, whereas a further decrease was also estimated in the long-term unemployment rate with levels reaching 2.8 per cent in 2014.