April unemployment rate dipped to 5.4% from 8.4%

The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in Cyprus decreased to 5.4% in April, from 5.8% the month before and 8.4% a year ago, according to Eurostat.

Unemployment rates in the eurozone and the EU were at 6.8% and 6.2%, respectively, in April, stable compared with March and down from 8.2% and 7.5%, respectively, in April 2021.

Eurostat estimates that 13.264 million men and women in the EU, of whom 11.181 million in the euro area, were unemployed in April.

Compared with April 2021, unemployment decreased by 2.543 million in the EU and 2.175 million in the euro area.

For youth unemployment, in April, 2.600 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU, of whom 2.122 million were in the euro area.

In April, the youth unemployment rate was 13.9% in both the EU and the euro area, down from 14.0% in both areas in the previous month.

Compared with March 2022, youth unemployment decreased by 6,000 in the EU and 1000 in the euro area.

Compared with April 2021, youth unemployment decreased by 685,000 in the EU and 555,000 in the euro area.

Data on Cyprus for youth unemployment is released quarterly.

Regarding unemployment by sex, the unemployment rate for women was 6.5% in the EU, down from 6.6% in March.

The unemployment rate for men was 5.8% in April, down from 5.9% in March.

In the euro area, the unemployment rate for women remained stable at 7.2%, while the unemployment rate for men decreased from 6.5% to 6.4%.

In Cyprus, the unemployment rate decreased significantly to 5.8% from 6.4% in March. There was also a small decrease in unemployment among men, from 5.2% to 5.0%.

According to Cystat, unemployment of people aged 15-24 was 17.7% of the labour force in Q1 2022 (males 19.3%, females 16.2%) compared to 19.5% (males 25.3%, females 12.8%) in the same quarter of last year.

Data shows that 50.7% of the total unemployed searched for a job for less than six months, 15% for 6-11 months, whereas 34.3% were long-term unemployed.

The same rates for Q1 2021 were 42.4%, 25.3% and 32.3%, Cystat added.