Eurostat: Unemployment in Cyprus reaches 5.4%

Unemployment reached 5.4% of the active population in Cyprus in April 2009, compared to 5.0% in March 2009, according to Eurostat data released on Tuesday.

Despite the increase in the unemployment rate, Cyprus had the third best performance in the EU27, the average of which presented a decade record, rising to 8.6%.

In April, the unemployment rate in the Eurozone was 9.2% of the active population, compared to 8.9% in March.

According to Eurostat, these figures constitute for the euro area the highest rate since September 1999 and for the EU27 since January 2006.

Eurostat estimates that 20,825 million men and women in the EU27, of which 14,579 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in April 2009. Compared with March, the number of persons unemployed increased by 556,000 in the EU27 and by 396,000 in the euro area. Compared with April 2008, unemployment went up by 4,653 million in the EU27 and by 3,100 million in the euro area.

Among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (3.0%) and Austria (4.2%), and the highest rates in Spain (18.1%), Latvia (17.4%) and Lithuania (16.8%).

For Cyprus, the unemployment rate for men was 5.3% in April compared to 4.8% in March, and 5.5% for women in April compared to 5.3% in March. Among the youth, March figures show unemployment standing at 12.6%.