Labour force rises, unemployment falls below 6% in Q2

Unemployment fell below 6% in the second quarter of 2023, while the labour force grew by an annual 2.45%, in the second quarter of 2023, according to the results of the Labour Force Survey, released by CySTAT.

The labour force in the 2nd quarter of 2023 amounted to 494,246 persons or 65.6% of the population (males 70.6%, females 61.1%) compared with to 482,385 persons (65.1%) in the respective period of last year, CySTAT said.

The number of employed persons was 464,878 and the employment rate 61.7% (males 66.3%, females 57.5%) from 449,482 persons (60.6%) in the respective quarter of 2022.

The number of unemployed persons fell to 29,367 and the unemployment rate to 5.9% of the labour force (males 6.0%, females 5.8%) compared with 32,903 persons (6.8%) in the corresponding quarter of 2022, the survey showed.

As far as employment is concerned, for the age group 20-64, the employment rate was 79.2%, with the rate for males at 84.0% and for females at 74.8%. In the corresponding quarter of 2022, the rate was 78.0% (males 84.2%, females 72.2%).

For the age group 55-64 the employment rate was 67.2% compared with 65.9% in the corresponding quarter of 2022.

According to the distribution of employment by sector, the biggest percentage of employed persons was in Services with 81.3%), followed by Manufacturing with 16.6% and Agriculture with 2.1%.

For the 2nd quarter of 2022, the corresponding percentages were: Services 80.7%, Manufacturing 16.8% and Agriculture 2.5%.

According to CySTAT, the share of part-time employment to total employment was 9.0% or 41,671 persons (males 6.9%, females 11.2%).

The corresponding rate for the 2nd quarter of 2022 was 10.9% (males 9.0%, females 13.0%).

Employees in Q2 2023 amounted to 89.6% or 416,730 of the total employed persons, of which 13.4% (55,714 persons) had a temporary job. In the corresponding quarter of 2022 employees accounted for 89.1% of total employment of which 11.4% had a temporary job.

Furthermore, in young persons aged 15-24 years old, the unemployment rate dropped to 15.6% of the labour force of the same age group (males 18.2%, females 13.0%) in comparison to 17.6% (males 16.3%, females 18.9%) in the respective quarter of last year.

As far as the duration of unemployment is concerned, 49.3% of the total unemployed persons searched for a job for a period of less than 6 months, 17.8% for a period of 6-11 months, whereas a percentage of 32.9% were long-term unemployed.

The corresponding rates for the 2nd quarter of 2022 were 49.3%, 13.3% and 37.4%, CySTAT said.

(Source: CNA)