Almost without noticing it, Malta has slid to the sixth lowest place in the unemployment stakes in Europe. There was a time when Malta was in the second lowest place and there was much boasting about it. Now, even if the fall has been rather gradual, nobody seems to have noticed.

It must be pointed out that what happened was not that Malta's unemployment increased - that has remained rather steady at 4%. What happened was that other countries now have lower unemployment.

 The euro area seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 8.2% in July 2018, stable compared with June 2018 and down from 9.1% in July 2017. This is the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since November 2008.

The EU28 unemployment rate was 6.8% in July 2018, down from 6.9% in June 2018 and from 7.6% in July 2017. This is the lowest rate recorded in the EU28 since April 2008.

These figures were published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Eurostat estimates that 16.823 million men and women in the EU28, of whom 13.381 million in the euro area, were unemployed in July 2018. Compared with June 2018, the number of persons unemployed decreased by 82 000 in the EU28 and by 73 000 in the euro area.

Compared with July 2017, unemployment fell by 1.949 million in the EU28 and by 1.368 million in the euro area.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates in July were recorded in the Czech Republic (2.3%), Germany (3.4%) and Poland (3.5%). The highest unemployment rates were observed in Greece (19.5% in May 2018) and Spain (15.1%).

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in all Member States. The largest decreases were registered in Cyprus (from 10.7% to 7.7%), Greece (from 21.7% to 19.5% between May 2017 and May 2018), Portugal (from 8.9% to 6.8%) and Croatia (from 10.9% to 8.8%).

In July 2018, the unemployment rate in the United States was 3.9%, down from 4.0% in June 2018 and from 4.3% in July 2017.

However, Malta still has the second lowest number of youth unemployment.

In July, 3.325 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU28, of whom 2.365 million were in the euro area. Compared with July 2017, youth unemployment decreased by 466 000 in the EU28 and by 294 000 in the euro area.

In July 2018, the youth unemployment rate was 14.8% in the EU28 and 16.6% in the euro area, compared with 16.8% and 18.7% respectively in July 2017.

In July 2018, the lowest rates were observed in Germany (6.1%), Malta (6.3%) and the Czech Republic (6.6%), while the highest were recorded in Greece (39.7% in May 2018), Spain (33.4%) and Italy (30.8%).