CYPRUS: Unemployment down 9% y-o-y in April

Unemployment dropped by 9% year-on-year in April as the number of registered as out of work decreased by 4,207 from April 2014, the statistical service Cystat said.

The figures showed that the unemployed persons, registered at the District Labour Offices on the last day of April, reached 42,551 persons (or 44,285 seasonally adjusted), below this year’s high of 50,240 in February and the record high of 53,204 in February 2014.
The decrease was recorded in the sectors of construction (-1,109), trade (-834), financial and insurance activities (-755), manufacturing (-741), public administration (-676), education (-323) and to newcomers in the labour market (-939).
An increase in registered unemployment was recorded in the sectors of accommodation and food service activities (+831) and transportation (+321).
Unemployment fell slightly by one point of a percent to 16% in March, compared to 16.1% in February, according to Eurostat, similar to the last quarter of 2014 when the labour force was 439,039.
Meanwhile, Eurostat data showed that the employment rate in Cyprus improved slightly in 2014 to 67.6% of the working age population of 20-64, from 67.2% the year before.
According to Eurostat, for the first time since the financial crisis, the employment rate of the population aged 20 to 64 in the European Union also increased in 2014, reaching 69.2%, but not yet to its 2008 peak of 70.3%. A similar pattern was observed for men, reaching 75.0% in 2014, up from 2013 but still below the 2008 level. In contrast, the employment rate for women has continuously risen since 2010 to 63.5% in 2014, above its 2008 peak of 62.8%. The Europe 2020 strategy target is to reach a total employment rate of at least 75% for the 20-64s in the EU by 2020.