Last Updated on Monday, 14 March, 2022 at 12:08 pm by Andre Camilleri
During the fourth quarter of 2021, the Labour Force Survey estimates that total number of persons in employment was 274,110, 5.0 per cent higher when compared to the previous year, the NSO said.
Labour Force Survey estimates indicated that, during the fourth quarter, total employment stood at 274,110 accounting for 61.7 per cent of the population aged 15 and over. Unemployed persons stood at 8,927 (2.0 per cent), while inactive persons totalled 161,485 (36.3 per cent). The activity rate for the quarter under review was estimated at 79.1 per cent with the highest rate recorded among persons aged 25 to 54 (90.9 per cent).
The Employed Population On average, out of every 100 persons aged between 15 and 64 years, 77 were employed. The male employment rate for this age bracket was 83.4 per cent, while that for females stood at 69.1 per cent. The largest share of employed persons was recorded among persons aged between 25 and 34 years, for both males and females.
Self-employed persons accounted for 15.3 per cent of all persons with a main job. The majority of employed persons worked on a full-time basis and amounted to 243,016. A further 31,094 had a part-time job as their primary employment. Results show that, on average, full-timers usually worked 40.9 hours while part-timers worked 21.9 hours per week.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, employed persons actually worked an average of 33.6 hours per week, 1 hour less when compared to the previous year. The average monthly basic salary of employees for the fourth quarter of 2021 was estimated at €1,613. The highest basic salary was recorded in the Financial and insurance activities sector. Average monthly salaries varied from €970 among persons employed in elementary occupations to €3,037 among managers. The Unemployed and Inactive Population The unemployment rate for the fourth quarter of 2021, stood at 3.2 per cent.
The largest share of unemployed persons was recorded among persons aged 25 to 74 years. Females accounted for 59.4 per cent of total inactive persons and those over 65 years made up the highest share of the inactive. Over 40 per cent were inactive because they had reached retirement age or were taking up early retirement. Education Attainment Almost half of the persons aged 15 years and over had attained a low level of education. By contrast, 34.0 per cent of the employed had a tertiary level education.
