Labour market tightens with only 875 people looking for work in Malta

The official number of people registered as unemployed fell to 875 in June 2023, 79 fewer when compared to the corresponding month in 2022, and 41 fewer than in May 2023, hitting a new record low.

Data made available by the National Statistics Office revealed that Malta’s labour market is tighter than ever, with the fewest number of people available to work on record. For several years a shortage of workers has been identified as a major issue for local firms, which has led to a growing dependence on foreign workers and the adoption of automation.

Nevertheless, despite the country welcoming a whopping 20,575 foreign workers in 2022 alone, pressure has yet to be alleviated on the labour market.

A year-on-year decrease of 41 persons was recorded among those looking for work for fewer than 21 weeks, while there were 37 fewer people looking for work for over a year.

Almost half of all jobseekers were aged 45 and over, while over a quarter were aged between 30 and 44 years old.

The number of persons with a disability who were registered for work also dropped by 23, when compared to the previous year, falling to 208, representing 23.7 per cent of all persons looking for work in Malta.

There were more than twice as many men (606) looking for work than there were women (269). This rate increased to more than three times as much among persons with a disability.

The largest share of men and women on the unemployment register sought occupations as clerical support workers, with 23.8 per cent and 39.0 per cent respectively.