Unemployment at 7.4%–Labour Force Survey

Employment growth also stagnates for the first time

The Labour Force Survey for the first quarter has confirmed the worst, namely that unemployment now exceeds 7% of the labour force.
Using different methodology, Eurostat first estimated that the unemployment rate for Cyprus had reached more than 7% in February.
The rate published by Eurostat is the only monthly unemployment rate published, because the Statistical Service no longer publishes a rate for registered unemployment, which captures only those looking for work and entitled to benefits.
Now the Labour Force Survey has confirmed Eurostat’s figure, showing that the unemployment rate rose to 7.4% in the first quarter of 2011, from 5.9% in the first quarter of 2010.
In absolute numbers unemployment rose from 29,618 in the first three months of 2010 to 30,180 in the same period of 2011.
The registered unemployment figure was a little lower at 28,401 at the end of March.
Unemployment among the young remains stubbornly high, at 20.1% for 15-24 year-olds.

Employment growth stagnates
Until the first quarter, rising unemployment was accompanied by rising employment, made possible by a growing labour force. However, in the first quarter this trend was halted.
Whereas employment rose compared with the year earlier by 0.9% in the fourth quarter of 2010 and 1% in the third quarter, there was zero growth in employment compared with the year earlier in the first three months of 2011.
While services accounted for 73.3% of GDP in 2010, they accounted for 74.2% of employment in the first quarter of 2011, followed by industry at 21.5% and agriculture at 4.3%.

Fiona Mullen, Sapienta Economics Ltd