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Unemployment spikes by an annual 41% in April due to lockdown measures

08/05/2020 15:55

Registered unemployed persons in April spiked by an annual 41% with the labour market severely affected by the containment measures and suspension of businesses, enforced since mid-March to limit the spread of the coronavirus disease in Cyprus.

Compared with the previous month of 2020, the number of registered unemployed persons rose by 8.5% amounting to 28,591 persons compared with 26,353 in March.
 
Based on seasonally adjusted data, the number of registered unemployed persons in April 2020 rose by 36.5% compared with April 2019.
 
The steep annual change is mainly attributed to the sectors of accommodation and food service activities (an increase of 5.785), trade (an increase of 928), transportation and storage (an increase of 407), administrative and support service activities (an increase of 369), professional, scientific and technical activities (an increase of 342), arts, entertainment and recreation (an increase of 229) as well as to the decrease of 415 persons recorded as newcomers in the labour market, Cystat said.
 
However, citing information from the Department of Labour, Cystat cautioned that the comparison of the data of the months March and April 2020 with the data of the previous months is not considered safe.
 
“This is due to the implementation by the Public Employment Service of the extraordinary measures announced by the Ministry of Labour, Welfare and Social Insurance for automatic renewals of registered unemployed and new registrations of unemployed people without their physical presence in order to avoid the spread of coronavirus,” Cystat added.