Registered unemployed shoots up 69%

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Registered unemployed in Cyprus recorded a sharp annual increase of 69.2% in August compared to the same month last year due to the COVID pandemic, official data shows.

Coronavirus travel restrictions have decimated the tourism sector – one of the largest employers – while businesses are also struggling post-lockdown.

Unemployed people registered at the District Labour Offices in August reached 33,649 from 19,883 in 2019.

Based on the seasonally adjusted data that show the trend of unemployment, the number of registered unemployed for August 2020 increased 4.5% to 34,996 from 33,815 in the previous month.

Compared to August 2019, an increase of 13,766 unemployed or 69.2% was recorded, attributed mainly to the sectors of accommodation and food service activities (+6,022), trade (+2,117), transportation and storage (+889), administrative and support service activities (+659), professional, scientific and technical activities (+623) and manufacturing (+483).

According to the Department of Labour, the comparison of data since the March 2020 pandemic and onwards, with the data of the previous months is not considered reliable.