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Unemployment at 6.8% in second quarter of 2020

13/08/2020 14:07

Unemployment in Cyprus stood at 6.8% during the second quarter of 2020, compared to 6.5% in the corresponding quarter of 2019, the Statistical Service of the Republic of Cyprus announced on Thursday.

According to the results of the Labour Force Survey, the labour force in the 2nd quarter of 2020 amounted to 448,466 persons or 62.2% of the population (males 68.6%, females 56.3%) in comparison to 447,364 persons (62.8%) in the corresponding quarter of 2019.

The number of employed persons was 418,015 and the employment rate 58% (males 63.8%, females 52.6%) in comparison to 418,374 persons (58.7%) in the corresponding quarter of 2019.

The number of unemployed persons amounted to 30,451 and the unemployment rate to 6.8% of the labour force (males 7%, females 6.6%) in comparison to 28,989 persons (6.5%) in the corresponding quarter of 2019.

For the age group 20-64, the employment rate was 75.2%. The rate for males was 81.1% and for females 69.6%. In the corresponding quarter of 2019 the rate was 76.6% (males 81.9%, females 71.5%). For the age group 55-64 the employment rate was 61% in comparison to 62.4% in the corresponding quarter of 2019.

According to the distribution of employment by sector, the biggest percentage of employed persons was in services (77.1%), followed by manufacturing (20%) and agriculture (2.9%). For the 2nd quarter of 2019, the corresponding percentages were: services 79.4%, manufacturing 18.1% and agriculture 2.5%.

The share of part-time employment to total employment was 10.7% or 44,700 persons (males 7.4%, females 14.4%). The corresponding rate for the 2nd quarter of 2019 was 11.5% (males 8.2%, females 15.1%).

86.6% or 362,120 of the total employed persons were employees, while 13.8% of them (49,818 persons) had a temporary job. In the corresponding quarter of 2019 employees accounted for 86.2% of total employment of which 14.4% had a temporary job.

In young persons aged 15-24 years old, the unemployment rate was 17.8% of the labour force of the same age group (males 21.8%, females 14.1%) in comparison to 14.9% (males 21.1%, females 9.5%) in the corresponding quarter of last year.

As far as the duration of unemployment is concerned, 57.6% of the total unemployed persons searched for a job for a period of less than 6 months, 15.3% for a period of 6-11 months, whereas a percentage of 27.1% were long-term unemployed. The corresponding rates for the 2nd quarter of 2019 were 50.8%, 17.5% and 31.7%.