CYPRUS: 4Q employment down 0.6%

The number of persons employed dropped by 0.6% in the fourth quarter of last year, compared to the previous quarter, and by 1.5% compared to year-earlier quarter.
This was in contrast to the number of persons employed in the euro area that rose by 0.1% and 0.2% in the EU28 in 4Q 2014 compared to the previous quarter, according Eurostat. In the third quarter of 2014, employment increased by 0.2% in the euro area and 0.3% in the EU28.
Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, employment increased by 0.9% in the euro area and by 1.0% in the EU28 in the fourth quarter of 2014 (after +0.7% and +0.9% respectively in the third quarter of 2014).
Among EU member states, Spain and Latvia recorded the highest increases in the fourth quarter of 2014 (both +0.7%), and Ireland and Slovakia (both +0.6%), while Portugal (-1.4%), Cyprus (-0.6%), Poland (-0.3%), Italy (-0.2%) and Malta (-0.1%) recorded decreases.