Malta records slight increase in labour productivity

Malta recorded a very slight increase in labour productivity in the first quarter of this year, when compared to the first quarter of 2025.

Real labour productivity per person rose by 0.1 per cent, while real labour productivity per hour worked rose by 0.5 per cent.

The figures, issued by Eurostat, found that Denmark recorded the largest increase in labour productivity based on persons, with a 4.8 per cent rise compared with the first quarter of 2025. Lithuania followed with a 3.5 per cent increase and Slovenia with 2.7 per cent.

It found that only two countries registered declines in labour productivity based on persons: Ireland (-16.9 per cent) and Italy (-0.3 per cent).

Denmark had the largest increase in labour productivity based on hours worked (+5.1 per cent), followed by Sweden (+3 per cent) and Poland (+2.8 per cent). Labour productivity based on hours worked dropped in 6 EU countries, with the largest declines in Ireland (-17.1 per cent), Latvia (-1.3 per cent) and Czechia (-0.8 per cent).

In the first quarter of 2026, labour productivity in the EU as a whole increased slightly by 0.1 per cent based on both persons and hours worked, compared with the same quarter of the previous year, Eurostat said. “This calculation combines gross domestic product (GDP) and employment data to show the real output produced per employed person, or per hour worked.”