Unemployment climbs to 7.6% in Q3—LFS

**Registered unemployment also up**

The unemployment rate climbed to a record 7.6% in the third quarter of 2011 from 5.8% in the same quarter of 2010, according to the latest Labour Force Survey.
The unemployment rate was higher for females (7.9%) than males (7.4%).
Youth unemployment remains stubbornly high, with the unemployment rate for young persons aged 15-24 reaching 22.3% of the labour force of the same age group.
On the employment side, the employment rate for persons aged 20-64 was 73.1% (males 80.2% and females 66.0%) and was lower than both the previous quarter and the same quarter of 2010.
The number of employed reached 372.5 thousand (males 204.8 thousand and females 167.6 thousand) and the number of unemployed 30.8 thousand (males 16.4 thousand and females 14.5 thousand).

Registered unemployment up in November

Meanwhile, the number of registered unemployed at the District Labour Offices on the last day of November 2011 rose by 6,805 or 27.2% to 31,826 persons.
The increase was mainly in wholesale and retail trade (an increase of 1,644), construction (1,363), accommodation and food service activities (1,261), manufacturing (809), transportation and storage (420), education (365) and newcomers to the labour market, where an increase of 462 unemployed persons was recorded.
On a seasonally adjusted basis the trend was also up, with the number of seasonally adjusted unemployed increasing to 31,253 in November 2011 from 30,969 in October.