In February 2004, the long-term unemployment rate stood at two per cent, whereas the unemployment rate for those aged 45 years and over stood at 4.5 per cent during the same month.

The unemployment rate among young people stood at 9.8 per cent. The rate of unemployment among males under the age of 25 was 11.2 per cent, while that of females was eight per cent.

In June 2004, there were 7,942 people registered unemployed with the Employment and Training Corporation (ETC). Of these, 6,434 were males and 1,508 were females, according to figures issued by the National Office of Statistics yesterday.

The number of registered unemployed declined by 162 in June over the preceding month. On a year-to-year basis, there was an increase of 704 people on the unemployment register.

Those registering under Part 1 of the unemployment register amounted to 7,255 whereas those registering under Part 2 amounted to 687.

In June 2004, the age distribution of those registered as unemployed indicated that within this part of the labour supply there were 856 individuals under 20 years of age, 1,276 aged between 20 and 24, 1,028 aged between 25 and 29, 2,527 aged between 30 and 44 and 2,255 persons aged 45 years and over.

As far as the length of the period of unemployment is concerned, 3,085 people had been registering for work for less than 20 weeks as at the end of June 2004.

Taking into account both those registering for work under Part 1 and those under Part 2, it transpires that there were 614 people registered unemployed in the island of Gozo and 7,328 registered unemployed in the island of Malta.

With specific reference to Gozo, the number of males registering for work amounted to 442 and the number for females was 172.

Conversely, 5,992 males were registering for work on the island of Malta and 1,336 females.