25/11/2019 09:52
Cyprus’ unemployment rate dropped to 6.7% of the labour in the third quarter of 2019, compared to 7.8% in the corresponding quarter of 2018.
According to the results of the Labour Force Survey published on Friday by the Statistical Service of Cyprus, the labour force in the 3rd quarter of 2019 amounted to 447,206 persons or 63.0% of the population (males 69.5%, females 56.9%) in comparison to 442,456 persons (63.1%) in the corresponding quarter of 2018.
The number of employed persons was 417,118 and the employment rate 58.7% (males 65.9%, females 52.2%) in comparison to 407,728 persons (58.2%) in the corresponding quarter of 2018.
The number of unemployed persons amounted to 30,088 and the unemployment rate to 6.7% of the labour force (males 5.3%, females 8.4%) in comparison to 34,728 persons (7.8%) in the corresponding quarter of 2018.
Employment
For the age group 20-64, the employment rate was 75.7%. The rate for males was 82.6% and for females 69.2%. In the corresponding quarter of 2018 the rate was 74.6% (males 80.8%, females 69.0%). For the age group 55-64 the employment rate was 61.7% in comparison to 62.2% in the corresponding quarter of 2018.
According to the distribution of employment by sector, the biggest percentage of employed persons was in Services (78.8%), followed by Manufacturing (18.9%) and Agriculture (2.3%). For the 3rd quarter of 2018, the corresponding percentages were: Services 81.1%, Manufacturing 16.4% and Agriculture 2.5%.
The share of part-time employment to total employment was 10.6% or 44,241 persons (males 7.8%, females 13.9%). The corresponding rate for the 3rd quarter of 2018 was 10.6% (males 7.9%, females 13.7%).
86.5% or 360,790 of the total employed persons were employees, of which 14.2% (51,111 persons) had a temporary job. In the corresponding quarter of 2018 employees accounted for 86.7% of total employment of which 14.0% had a temporary job.
Unemployment
For young persons aged 15-24 years old, the unemployment rate was 15.6% of the labour force of the same age group (males 18.3%, females 13.3%) in comparison to 17.0% (males 20.4%, females 14.3%) in the corresponding quarter of last year.
As far as the duration of unemployment is concerned, 57.8% of the total unemployed persons searched for a job for a period of less than 6 months, 11.3% for a period of 6-11 months, whereas a percentage of 30.9% were long-term unemployed. The corresponding rates for the 3rd quarter of 2018 were 54.5%, 13.4% and 32.1%.