Malta’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate climbed to 3.4% in September 2026, up from 2.7% a year earlier, according to the National Statistics Office. That is a rise of 0.7 percentage points over the twelve months.

Men and women showed little gap in the latest reading. The rate stood at 3.5% among males and 3.3% among females. Against August 2026, the male rate held steady and the female rate slipped by 0.1 percentage points.

The age split was wider. Among people aged 15 to 24 the youth unemployment rate reached 9.6%, while for those aged 25 to 74 it was 2.9%.

The total number of people out of work was 11,860 in September, slightly below the 11,950 counted in August. Most were in the older bracket: 9,166 people aged 25 to 74, or 77.3% of the total. Unemployed youths aged 15 to 24 numbered 2,694, making up 22.7%.

The NSO compiles the rate using a benchmarking model that pairs Jobsplus administrative records on employment and unemployment with quarterly Labour Force Survey data.

The office said the Q2 2026 Labour Force Survey benchmark has been temporarily left out of the monthly unemployment rate while that survey’s data is being revised. It described this as a step to keep the time series consistent and stable, with fuller detail set out in an accompanying methodological note.

The September figure runs above where it sat a year ago but stays well below the pandemic-era peaks of 2020 and 2021, when the seasonally adjusted total rate reached as high as 5.6%. Over the past year the total rate has ranged between 2.5% and 3.4% and the September reading marks the top of that band.