Labour Force estimates indicate that, during 2014, 16,278 migrants aged between 15 and 64 years were in the labour market in Gozo and Malta.

The National Statistics Office said today that the number of economically-active migrants living in households during 2014 was estimated at 16,278, with males making up 58.1 per cent of the total.

Almost 40 per cent of the migrant population had a tertiary level of education, as against 23.2 per cent of the non-migrant component.

Three-fourths of the surveyed active migrants had a beginners' level of understanding of the Maltese language; however, the majority did not participate in a language course since they did not deem it to be necessary.

Employment rates among migrants resulted as slightly higher than the rates among non- migrants, with the rate for males exceeding that of females for both groups.

A slightly higher amount of migrants considered themselves to be over-qualified for the job they were engaged in during the time of the interview. Among the employed population, it is estimated that 46.6 per cent of migrants worked in highly skilled non-manual occupations as against 39.5 per cent of non-migrant workers.

Among persons who had found their current job in the previous five years, the most common method used was through direct contact with the employer, followed by the use of adverts, or through information provided by relatives and friends.

The data provided in this article from the NSO is extracted from a Labour Force Survey ad hoc module carried out during 2014. The module, which was co-financed by Eurostat, was carried out to fulfil a European Statistical System (ESS) agreement.

The results in this release refer to persons aged between 15 and 64 years who were economically active during 2014. The data is broken down by whether the person is a migrant or non-migrant.

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