Labour force and employment increase in Q3

The labour force in Cyprus increased by 1.2% in the third quarter of the year, on an annual basis whereas employment also edged up by 2.4%. The unemployment rate dropped by 2.2%.
 
According to the results of the Labour Force Survey, published by the Statistical Service on Friday, the labour force in the 3rd quarter of 2018 amounted to 442.456 persons or 63.1% of the population, of which 69.1% were males and 57.6% were females, compared with 429.128 persons or 61.9% in the corresponding quarter of 2017.
 
The number of employed persons increased to 407.728 and the employment rate to 58.2% (males 64.2%, females 52.6%) from 386.408 persons (55.8%) in the corresponding quarter of 2017.
 
The number of unemployed persons decreased to 34.728 and the unemployment rate to 7.8% of the labour force (males 7.1%, females 8.7%) compared with 42.720 persons (10.0%) in the same period last year.
 
In the age group 20-64, the employment rate was 74.6%. The rate among males was 80.8% whereas among females it was 69.0%. In the corresponding quarter of 2017 the rate was 71.9% (males 77.0%, females 67.2%). In the age group 55-64 the employment rate stood at 62.2% from 57.8% in the corresponding quarter of 2017.
 
The biggest percentage of employed persons was in the services sector with 81.1%, followed by manufacturing with 16.4% and agriculture with 2.5%, while in 3rd quarter of 2017, the corresponding percentages stood at 80.7%, 16.7% and 2.6%, respectively.  
 
Part-time employment stood at 10.6% of total employment or 43.321 persons (males 7.9%, females 13.7%), while in the corresponding period of 2017 it was 11.9% (males 9.4%, females 14.7%).
 
Employees represented 86.7% of the total employed persons, of which 14.0% (49.499 persons) had a temporary job, registering a decrease from 87.3% in the same period of 2017.
 
Among young persons aged 15-24 the unemployment rate dropped to 17.0% from 24.0% in the same quarter last year.
 
With regard to the duration of unemployment, 54.5% of the unemployed searched for a job for less than 6 months, 13.4% for a period of 6-11 months, while 32.1% were long-term unemployed. The corresponding rates for the 3rd quarter of 2017 were 40.9%, 15.6% and 43.5%, respectively.