Malta's unemployment rate stood at 3.4% in August, up by 0.9 percentage points from the 2.5% recorded in the same month last year, figures published by the National Statistics Office (NSO) show.

The seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment rate remained at 3.4% in August 2026, while the number of unemployed people increased slightly from 11,921 in July to 11,973 in August.

The unemployment rate among men stood at 3.5%, while that among women was 3.3%.

Compared with July, the male unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage points, while the female unemployment rate decreased by the same amount.

Youth unemployment remained considerably higher than the overall rate, standing at 9.7% among people aged between 15 and 24.

By comparison, the unemployment rate among those aged between 25 and 74 stood at 2.9%.

Of the 11,973 people who were unemployed in August, 9,259 were aged between 25 and 74, accounting for 77.3% of the total unemployed population.

A further 2,714 unemployed people were aged between 15 and 24, representing 22.7% of the total.

The NSO said unemployment rates are derived using a benchmarking model combining Jobsplus administrative data on employment and unemployment with quarterly Labour Force Survey data.