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2 NEWS 23.12.2021 IN November annual growth in busi- ness activity receded somewhat from recent historical highs, but remained strong from a historical perspective as economic activity continued to recover from the low levels recorded in 2020, according to the Central Bank of Malta's Business Conditions Index. e European Commission's con- fidence survey shows that sentiment eased in November compared with a month earlier, but remained well above its year-ago level and its long-term av- erage. When compared with October, confidence fell in all sectors, with the exception of the services sector. Fol- lowing recent developments, and in contrast to October, sentiment turned mildly negative in industry and in the retail sector. e Bank's estimate of the COV- ID-19 Government Response Index – a composite indicator that summarises various containment, economic and health-related measures introduced in response to the pandemic – remained unchanged from the levels recorded in the previous three months and stood marginally below that reported in the euro area. In November, both the number of fi- nal deeds of sale for residential proper- ty and the number of promise-of-sale agreements rose on an annual basis. e latter were also higher than in No- vember 2019. In October, industrial production con- tracted on an annual basis for the third consecutive month. Meanwhile, the volume of retail trade rose at a slower, though still strong pace. e number of registered unemployed persons declined both when compared with September and when compared with a year earlier. e unemployment rate rose marginally to 3.6% in October but remained below its pre-pandemic level. e annual inflation rate based on the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) stood at 1.4% in Octo- ber, up from 0.7% in September, while that based on the Retail Price Index (RPI) rose to 2.3% from 2.2% a month earlier. e difference between the two measures of inflation mostly reflects technical factors related to the revision of HICP weights in 2021. In November, both the annual HICP and RPI inflation rates rose to 2.4%. e Economic Update also includes data on recourse to the moratorium on loan repayments offered by domestic credit institutions to residents of Malta in response to COVID-19. e value of household and corporate loans subject to a moratorium reached very low levels at the end of October. At €26.5 million, these were equivalent to only 0.2% of related outstanding loans. is reflects a recovery in income flows and the ex- piration of the moratoria period for a number of beneficiaries. By the end of the month, 652 facilities for working capital and loan repayment purposes had been granted to business- es impacted by the pandemic under the Malta Development Bank COVID-19 Guarantee Scheme, corresponding to total sanctioned amounts of €508.6 million, or 65.4% of the scheme's target size. Services sector only exception to drop in confidence registered in November Q3 employment reached 268,987 DURING the third quarter of 2021, the Labour Force Survey estimates that total number of persons in employment was 268,987, 3.6 per cent higher when com- pared to the previous year. Labour Force Survey estimates indi- cated that, during the third quarter, total employment stood at 268,987 accounting for 60.7 per cent of the population aged 15 and over. Unemployed persons stood at 9,897 (2.2 per cent) while inactive persons totalled 163,938 (37.0 per cent). e activity rate for the quarter under review was estimated at 78.0 per cent with the highest rate recorded among persons aged 25 to 54 (88.3 per cent). The Employed Population On average, out of every 100 persons aged between 15 and 64 years, 75 were employed. e male employment rate for this age bracket was 83.0 per cent while that for females stood at 66.2 per cent. e largest share of employed persons was re- corded among persons aged between 25 and 34 years, for both males and females. Self-employed persons accounted for 15.5 per cent of all persons with a main job. e majority of employed persons worked on a full-time basis and amounted to 239,362. A further 29,625 had a part- time job as their primary employment. Results show that, on average, full-timers usually worked 41.4 hours while part-tim- ers worked 22.6 hours per week. In the third quar- ter of 2021, employed persons actually worked 33.5 hours per week, 0.5 hours less when compared to the previous year. e average monthly basic salary of em- ployees for the third quarter of 2021 was estimated at €1,635. e highest basic salary was recorded in the Financial and insurance activities sector. Average monthly salaries varied from €1,013 among persons employed in el- ementary occupations to €2,824 among managers. The Unemployed and Inactive Population e unemployment rate for the third quarter of 2021, stood at 3.6 per cent. e largest share of unemployed persons was recorded among persons aged 25 to 74 years. Females accounted for 60.7 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 edu- cation. By contrast, 33.8 per cent of the em- ployed had a tertiary level education. 1 Kindly indicate source when quoting from this release. The advance release calendar may be consulted at www.nso.gov.mt Issued by: Dissemination Unit, National Statistics Office, Lascaris, Valletta VLT 2000, Malta. T. +356 2599 7219 F. +356 2599 7205 E. nso@gov.mt On average, out of every 100 persons aged between 15 and 64 years, 75 were employed. The male employment rate for this age bracket was 83.0 per cent while that for females stood at 66.2 per cent (Table 4). The largest share of employed persons was recorded among persons aged between 25 and 34 years, for both males and females (Chart 1). https://twitter.com/NSOMALTA/ https://www.facebook.com/nsomalta/ Compiled by: Labour Market and Information Society Statistics Unit Contact us: National Statistics Office, Lascaris, Valletta VLT 2000 T. +356 25997219, E. nso@gov.mt 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000 45000 50000 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55+ employed persons age group Males Females Chart 1. Employment by age group and sex Statistics in this News Release should be interpreted in the context of the COVID-19 situation. Employment by age group and sex

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