CYPRUS: Unemployment rate falls to 7.6% in Q4

Unemployment in Cyprus fell to 7.6% of workforce in Q4 2018, from 7.8% in Q3, according to official data.

According to the results of the Labour Force Survey, those in work in Q4 2018 amounted to 440,765 or 62.5% of the population (males 68.5%, females 57%) compared to 428,291 persons (61.6%) in the same quarter of 2017. 

The number of those in work was 407,382 and the employment rate 57.8% (males 63.3%, females 52.7%) from 384,911 persons (55.3%) in the same quarter of 2017. 

The number of unemployed reached 33,383 and the unemployment rate was 7.6% (males 7.5%, females 7.6%) against 43,380 persons (10.1%) in Q4 2017. 

For young people aged 15-24, the unemployment rate was 20.6% (males 25.7%, females 16%) in comparison to 22.9% (males 26.8%, females 19.9%) the year before. 

As far as the duration of unemployment is concerned, 53.7% of the total unemployed searched for a job for a period of less than 6 months, 14.2% for a period of 6-11 months, whereas 32.1% were long-term unemployed. The corresponding rates for Q4 2017 were 53.5%, 12.8% and 33.7% respectively. 

Employment 

For those aged 20-64, the employment rate was 74.5%. The rate for males was 80.2% and for females 69.3%. In Q4 2017 the rate was 71.5% (males 75.8%, females 67.6%). For those aged 55-64 the employment rate was 61.1% up from 57.6% a year before. 

According to the distribution of employment by sector, the biggest percentage of employed persons was in Services (80.8%), followed by Manufacturing (17.1%) and Agriculture (2.1%). For Q4 2017, the corresponding percentages were: Services 81.1%, Manufacturing 16.6% and Agriculture 2.3%. 

The share of part-time employment was 11.2% or 45,644 (males 8.1%, females 14.6%). The corresponding rate for Q4 2017 was 12.7% (males 9.2%, females 16.4%). 

Some 86.7% or 353,001 of the total employed were employees, of which 12.5% (43,944) had a temporary job. In Q4 2017 employees accounted for 86.8% of total employment of which 14.8% had a temporary job.