Unemployment down to 6.3% in Q4 2019

Unemployment in the fourth quarter of 2019 dropped to 6.3% on an annual basis, while for the entire 2019 it was 7.1%, data released by the Cyprus Statistical Service, on Thursday, show.

According to the results of the Labour Force Survey, the labour force in the 4th quarter of 2019 amounted to 449,784 persons or 62.9% of the population (males 68.8%, females 57.6%) in comparison to 440,765 persons (62.5%) in the same quarter of 2018.

The number of people in employment was 421,303 and the employment rate stood at 59% (males 64.8%, females 53.5%) compared to 407,382 persons (57.8%) in the same quarter of 2018.

Registered unemployed amounted to 28,481 and the unemployment rate to 6.3% of the labour force (males 5.8%, females 7.0%) compared to 33,383 persons (7.6%) in the fourth quarter of 2018.

In 2019 the unemployment rate was 7.1% compared to 8.4% in 2018.

Employment rate for the age group 20-64 was 76%. In men it was 81.7% and in women 70.7%.

In the corresponding quarter of 2018 the rate was 74.5% (men 80.2%, women 69.3%).

Employment rate for the age group 55-64 stood at 61.4% compared to 61.1% in the fourth quarter of 2018.

According to the distribution of employment by sector, the biggest percentage of people in employment was in services (78.4%), followed by manufacturing (18.9%) and agriculture (2.7%).

In the 4th quarter of 2018, people employed in services amounted to 80,8% of employment, manufacturing 17.1% and agriculture 2.1%.

In the fourth quarter of 2019 the share of part-time employment to total employment was 11.1% or 46,610 people (men 7.3%, women 15.3%).

The corresponding rate for the 4th quarter of 2018 was 11.2% (men 8.1%, women 14.6%).

A percentage of 86.5% or 364,233 of the total number of people in employment were employees, 14.1% or 51,164 people had a temporary job.

In the same quarter of 2018 employees accounted for 86.7% of total employment of whom 12.5% had a temporary job.

The unemployment rate in the age group of 15-24 years of age amounted to 16% of the labour force  (men 15.9%, women 16.0%) compared to 20.6% (males 25.7%, females 16.0%) in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

At the same time, 50.4% of the total unemployed were looking for a job for a period of less than 6 months, 19.2% for a period of 6-11 months, whereas a percentage of 30.4% were long-term unemployed.

The corresponding rates for the 4thquarter of 2018 were 53.7%, 14.2% and 32.1% respectively.