Cyprus employment falls in Q1—LFS

Employment levels fell in the first quarter of 2009 according to the quarterly Labour Force Survey which is conducted using EU norms.
The number of employed reached 376,807 in the first quarter of 2009, down from 379,790 in the same period of 2008.
Women fared slightly worse than men, as employment among women fell by 1.0% to 168,519 and employment among men fell by 0.6% to 208,288.
The employment rate for persons aged 15-64 was 69.5% (males 77.1% and females 62.1%), the same as in the corresponding quarter of 2008.
Unemployment rose slightly, to 18,189 in the first quarter of 2009, compared with 18,146 in the same period of 2008. However, the unemployment rate remained the same at 4.6%.
The unemployment rate among men was 4.1% for men and 5.2% for women.
Also the unemployment rate for those aged 15-24 was 10.0% of the labour force, down from 11.2% in the corresponding quarter of 2008.
The total labour force dropped slightly, from 397,937 in the first quarter of 2008 to 394,996 in the first quarter of 2009.