Unemployment highest among young
The Cyprus labour force comprising both employed and unemployed persons rose by 4% in 2004 to reach 354,686 persons, compared with a labour force of 341,203 in the second quarter of 2003.
This was faster than the rise in the population living in households (as opposed to in institutions), which rose by 3.3% in the same period.
The male labour force accounted for 56% and numbered 197,787, while females numbered 156,899.
The labour force participation rate (unemployed and employed as a percentage of the total population) for the age group 15-64 was 72.6%. As is not unusual, male participation was higher, 83.0%, while female participation was lower at 62.9%.
The employment rate (employed persons aged 15-64 as a percentage of the population of ages 15-64) was 69.1%.
The respective percentage for males was 80.0% and for females 59.0%.
The number of persons actually employed was 338,001, compared with 327,094 in 2003. Of the 2004 total, 190,826 were males.
Services dominate, little part-time
The biggest proportion of employed persons was concentrated in services, at 71.2%, although this was down from the 71.9% recorded in the second quarter of 2003.
Manufacturing accounted for 24.0% and agriculture only 5.3%.
Part-time employment remains low at 8.5% of the total, and fell compared with the 8.9% recorded in 2003. Female part-time employment accounted for 13.4% of the total and male part-time employment 4.7%.
Temporary employment rose from 12.5% in 2003 to 12.9% in 2004 but there was also an increase in wage or salary earners, from
76.3% in 2003 to 76.5% in 2004.
Men work longer
The average usual weekly hours of work in the main job for employees with a full-time job amounted to 40.4. Males worked a longer average (40.8) than females (39.8).
However, with part-time work, it was the other way round. Employees with a part-time job worked for 21.9 hours (males 20.7 and females 22.3).
Unemployment highest among the young
The number of unemployed persons amounted to 16,685 or 4.7% of the labour force, compared with 4.1% in 2003. The unemployment rate for males was 3.5% or 6.961 persons, whereas for females the rate was 6.2% or 9,724.
The unemployment rate is higher for young persons aged 15-24, at 10.7% (males 9.3% and females 12.2%) and was higher than the 8.9% recorded in 2003 (males 9.0% and females 8.8%).
Over a quarter a long-term unemployed
People searching for a job for more than one year accounted for over a quarter, at 27.3%, although a majority of 54.9% were searching for less than six months and 17.8% for 6-11 months.
