Over one-third of Cypriot workforce are graduates

Another third are retired by 60

 

Over one-third of workforce in Cyprus are graduates of tertiary education, according to the Labour Force Survey for 2006 published by the Statistical Service Cystat on Tuesday.

According to the survey, (33.4%) of the workforce had completed tertiary education and 39.8% had completed upper secondary education.

The labour force (people in work or actively looking for work) was 374,285 people and consisted of 55.7% men and 44.3% women.

Of this number, 357,281 were employed.

The employment rate for 15-64 year-olds in Cyprus was a fairly high by EU standards, at 69.6% in 2006. The male employment rate was 79.4% and the female employment rate was 60.3%.

The employment rate represents all men and women employed as a proportion of all 15-64 year-olds, whether or not they are looking for work.

 Part-time work is still fairly uncommon. Only 27,000 people or 7.7% of the employed worked on a part-time basis. Of these, 32.8% of these reported that they could not find a full-time job while 31.5% reported that they work on a part-time basis for other personal or family reasons.

Some 4.6% of the working population, or 16,441 persons, reported having a second job and a large proportion of these (41.8%) chose agriculture as a sideline.

The unemployment rate amounted to 4.5% of the labour force (males 3.9%, females 5.4%). The highest unemployment rate was among the under-25s, where it accounted for 10.0% of the labour force of the same age group.

Cyprus has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the EU.

 

One-third have retired by 60

 

In what the Cystat called the ad hoc module on “Transition from work into retirement”, it found that almost one-third of people in retirement had received a pension at age 60 or below.

The specific findings were that 13.0% of people in retirement received a pension at the age of 55, 19.9% at 60 and 41.4% at 63.

The survey found that 35.5% of the persons asked aged 50-69 years old plan to stop working for pay or profit at the age of 65 years old or more, 23.3% between the ages of 60 and 64 years old, 9.4% did not know yet, while 29.8% had already stopped working.

When asked 53.3% said the main financial incentive to stay at work was household income; 15.2% said the increase of pension entitlements, while 31.5% did not have any financial incentive.

Of the people already retired, 65.9% did so because they had reached compulsory retirement age; 15.6% owing to family/or personal reasons, 7.7% because of favourable financial arrangements and 5.4% because of own health or disability problems.

Some 7.3% of the persons asked stated that they receive disability pension or sickness benefit, 7.0% widow’s pension or social pension while 85.3% did not receive any other individual benefits.

The Labour Force Survey for 2006 provides data on the employed and unemployed population which are analysed by gender, age, education, branch of economic activity and occupational group.

 

Fiona Mullen