The key indicators that emerge from the Labour Force Survey for the period 2012 and 2017 are presented below. In some instances these are compared with the EU 28 data for 2017.
1. During 2017, the national estimate for the employment rate (ages 15-64) stood at 69.2%, 1.5 percentage points higher than the EU 28 average for the same year.
2. Significant increases in activity rates were noted between 2012 and 2017, especially among those aged 55-64 years.
3. On average, over the past six years, 15 out of every 100 employees were part-timers and about a quarter of females had this type of employment arrangement.
4. Unemployment has been declining steadily during the past years; from a rate of
6.2% in 2012, to 4% in 2017.
5. In 2017, the share of youths not in employment, education or training (referred to as NEETS) stood at 8.6%, 2.3 percentage points less than the EU 28 average.
6. The rate of early school leavers (ESL) stood at 17.7 per cent during 2017, registering a drop of four percentage points from 2012 levels. The national ESL rate is still above Malta’s Europe 2020 target of 10% and above EU 28 average of 10.6% for 2017.
7. Out of all persons aged 30-34 years having achieved tertiary level education, a constant increase was recorded over the period of six years, with the Europe 2020 target of 33% being met in 2017.
MFSA issue final version of Chapter 1 of the rulebook for VFA agents
MFSA issued the final chapter 1 of the VFA rulebook with regards VFA agents was issued on the 17th This can be viewed here: https://www.mfsa.com.mt/pages/viewcontent.aspx?id=674
Inflation on the rise
In September 2018, the annual rate of inflation as measured by the Retail Price Index (RPI) was 1.64%, up from 1.12% in August 2018.
Employment – Labour Supply by Place of Residence and Work
Employed persons in Malta, by place of work, exceeded the total number of employed persons actually resident in Malta. The difference represents the net balance of commuter workers. Commuter workers were predominantly Gozo residents working in Malta, accounting to 3,410 employed persons during 2017. This implied that one out of every five employed persons resident in the Gozo and Comino region worked in Malta, 51% of which were females.
Malta’s Latest Economic & Financial News
Provisional data for international trade show that a trade deficit of €334.8 million was registered in August, compared to a deficit of €158.5 million in the corresponding month of 2017. Imports show an increase of €143.4 million, while exports decreased by €32.9 million. The increase in the value of imports was primarily due to mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€85.1 million) and machinery and transport equipment (€41.6 million). On the exports side the main decrease was registered in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€38.9 million).
During 2017, electricity generation from power plants and the interconnector increased by 5.8 % compared to the previous year. The data shows that as from April 2017 Malta was shifted to source the majority of the needed electricity from the local power plants rather than the interconnector. Energy harvesting from renewable sources registered an increase of 21.8 % over 2016, reaching 165,109 MWh in 2017.
"A further idea that has emerged - and it is an idea at this stage - is to create an option to extend the implementation period for a matter of months - and it would only be for a matter of months. But the point is that this is not expected to be used, because we are working to ensure that we have that future relationship in place by the end of December 2020.” Theresa May on Brexit following the EU Summit held on 18th October, 2018.
