Cyprus labour force stats underline importance of real estate

Historical figures revised up

New figures on the Cyprus labour force underline the importance of construction and real estate to employment growth in the past five years.

While the fastest growing category of employment was in the sector of â€œprivate households with employed personsâ€ (housemaids from Asia), which rose by 10.3% in 2003-07, the second fastest was in the real estate, renting and business activity sector. This rose on average by 6.5% per year in 2003-07 to reach 24,000 in 2007 or 6.1% of the economically active population.

The third fastest was construction, which rose on average by 5.3% per year to reach 37,500, or 9.5% of the workforce in 2007.

By contrast, employment in the financial intermediation sector crept up by only 1.4% in 2003-07, as the sector shed the excesses of the last years of the previous decade. However, as the sector recovered, employment in the sector rose by 4.4% in 2007 to reach 16,700.

The largest sector remains wholesale and retail trade and repairs, with 67,000 people employed.

New figures for 2007 put the economically active population at 392,900.

Historical figures revised up

The Statistical Service Cystat also revised up historical figures for the economically active population by up to 20,000 or 5.6%.

The economically active population in 2004 is now put at 366,600, compared with 347,000 previously, while the economically active population for previous years has been revised up by smaller amounts all the way back to 1995.

The biggest upward revision for 2004 was made to agriculture, up from 22,500 to 30,900. If this is revision is not the result of methodological reasons (for example, by including people who work on their land at the weekends), then it is likely to be as a result of higher immigration than previously estimated.

In late 2007 the government revised up its estimates for real GDP growth in 2006 and 2007 after seeing the latest figures on foreign workers, which including EU citizens now account for just under a quarter of the workforce.

In July 2007 the number of foreign workers was 87,341, or 22% of the economically active population in 2007.

The higher number of foreign workers than expected suggested higher employment and thus greater economic activity.

Fiona Mullen