Unemployment down in February

In February, the number of persons registering for work stood at 4,511 compared to 6,190 in the corresponding month last year.

Data provided by the Employment and Training Corporation (ETC) for February indicate a decrease of 1,588 persons registering under Part I and a decrease of 91 among those registering under Part II of the unemployment register, when compared to February 2015. Overall, decreases in registered unemployment were recorded among all age groups.

When compared to February last year, registrants for work decreased irrespective of how long they had been registering. The largest decrease was recorded among persons who had been registering for over one year. The number of persons with a disability who were registering for work also decreased by 42 to 381. Males accounted for 79.3 per cent of total registrants with a disability.

The largest share of males on the unemployment register sought occupations as crafts and related trade workers (17.5 per cent), whereas their female counterparts mostly sought occupations as clerical support workers (28.8 per cent).

The registered unemployment rate in September 2015 stood at 2.5 per cent of the labour supply, (excluding part-time employment), and varied from 2.9 per cent among men to 1.7 per cent among women.