Nicosia – The number of unemployed persons in the 4^th quarter of 2019 amounted to 6,3% of the labour force or 28.481 persons, according to data released by the Cyprus Statistical Service late last month.

This compares favourably to an unemployment rate of 7,6%, or 33.383 in the corresponding quarter of 2018. For the whole of 2019, the unemployment rate was 7,1% in comparison to 8,4% in 2018 and over 16,5% in the 2^nd half of 2013.

According to the Cyprus Statistical Service, the labour force in the 4^th 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 corresponding quarter of 2018.

The number of employed persons was 421.303 and the employment rate 59,0% (males 64,8%, females 53,5%) in comparison to 407.382 persons (57,8%) in the corresponding quarter of 2018.

Employment

For the age group 20-64, the employment rate was 76,0%. The rate for males was 81,7% and for females 70,7%. In the corresponding quarter of 2018 the rate was 74,5% (males 80,2%, females 69,3%).

For the age group 55-64 the employment rate was 61,4% in comparison to 61,1% in the corresponding quarter of 2018.

According to the distribution of employment by sector, the biggest percentage of employed persons was in Services (78,4%), followed by Manufacturing (18,9%) and Agriculture (2,7%). For the 4th quarter of 2018, the corresponding percentages were: Services 80,8%, Manufacturing 17,1% and Agriculture 2,1%.

The share of part-time employment to total employment was 11,1% or 46.610 persons (males 7,3%, females 15,3%). The corresponding rate for the 4^th quarter of 2018 was 11,2% (males 8,1%, females 14,6%).

86,5% or 364.233 of the total employed persons were employees, of which 14,1% (51.164 persons) had a temporary job. In the corresponding quarter of 2018 employees accounted for 86,7% of total employment of which 12,5% had a temporary job.

Unemployment

For young persons aged 15-24 years old, the unemployment rate was 16,0% of the labour force of the same age group (males 15,9%, females 16,0%) in comparison to 20,6% (males 25,7%, females 16,0%) in the corresponding quarter of last year.

As far as the duration of unemployment is concerned, 50,4% of the total unemployed persons searched 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 4^th quarter of 2018 were 53,7%, 14,2% and 32,1%.