Eurostat statistics show that Malta has the second lowest unemployment rate in the European Union, the government said today. The 5.1% unemployment rate is also the lowest ever to be attained by Malta since Eurostat started to publish statistics about Malta.

The government said that, in the previous legislature, the average unemployment rate was 6.5%. In February 2010, the rate had risen to 7.3%, which was only 2.7% away from the eurozone average. Today, Malta enjoys a rate which is 5.8% lower than the eurozone average.

The unemployment rate among young people is at a record low of 8.7%, which is almost half the 14% that was registered in 2012.

All this is the result of measures the government introduced by the government, measures which had been criticised by the opposition. If the government had followed the suggestions made by the Nationalist Party, today there wouldn’t be so many young people in employment and paying taxes with which the country could invest further, reduce the deficit and improve pensions, the government said.

Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil had predicted an unemployment rate of 7%, but the reality is very different, the government said.