Unemployment reaches 4% in April

Unemployment continues upward trend, with a 0.4% increase in April, National Statistics Office figures show

28 May 2020, 1:49pm
by Karl Azzopardi

1 min read

COVID-19 has caused an economic crisis and this is being felt in a slow rise in unemployment

The April unemployment rate stood at 4%, the National Statistics Office said on Thursday, an increase of 0.4 points from the previous month.

The number of unemployed people in April stood at 10,816, up from 9,589 in March.

April unemployment went up by 0.6 points when compared to the same month last year when 8,926 were unemployed.

Monthly figures indicate a slow rise in unemployment, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which swept the world. The pandemic hit Malta at the start of March with economic repercussions started being felt soon after.

The NSO figures show that unemployment was highest among men (6,229 individuals). The figure for women stood at 4,586.

Youth unemployment for April stood 3,536.

Karl Azzopardi is Online Editor and an IGM press awards (Human Stories) winner of 2019