Malta’s economic recovery continued to accelerate during the month of January. This was confirmed by the fact that in the first month of the year our country had the lowest number of people registering for work in history.
A statement by the National Statistics Office indicates that in January there were only 1,117 people registering for employment. Compared to a year earlier there marked a decrease of 1,558, meaning that in a year the number of the jobless fell by almost two-thirds.
The biggest decline was in job seekers over the age of 45, with a decrease of 630 people. There was also a sharp decline among 30 to 45-year-olds, with enrollees decreasing by 552 compared to a year ago. Among those under 30 in 2022 there was a decrease of 376 jobless persons.
Before the pandemic started, the lowest level of people registering had been reached in June 2019. At the time there were 1,616 people registering, or 499 more than the new minimum achieved last January.
In a year the number of jobless people fell by almost two-thirds.
Despite the forecast of more than 50,000 unemployed people, unemployment was at its peak in May 2020 when the number of people registering had risen to 4,409. This contrasts sharply to the almost 8,000 who were registering at the height of the 2008 economic crisis.
On average, every day from the beginning of June 2020 onwards, six people who were on the register found a job. In about fourteen months the number of unemployed people fell to what it was before the pandemic started, and now we have been month after another reaching new historical minimums.
This was the fastest drop in unemployment in history. To reverse the unemployment, increase that occurred after the 2008 recession lasted 72 months, or five times more.
The strength of the economic recovery is being felt even more strongly in Gozo. At the beginning of 2022 there were only 108 people registering in Gozo. This when in March 2013 there had been 742 jobseekers, or more than seven times the amount present. In Malta those registering in 2013 were just under seven times the amount present.
Early indications suggest that in February it is likely that there will be yet another record minimum for the number of jobless.
