CYPRUS: Employment in broader public sector increased 1.61% in Q4 2018

Employment in Cyprus’ broader public sector increased 1.61% on an annual basis in Q4 2018, official figures showed on Thursday.

The number of employees in the broad public sector in the last quarter of the previous year rose to 68,351 persons, of which 62,414 in the General Government and 5,937 in the Publicly Owned Enterprises and Companies.

In the General Government which consists of the Government, Non-Profit Organisations and the Local Authorities the number of employees stood at 51,915, 6,307 and 4,192 persons respectively.

The employment in the wider public sector increased by 1,085 persons or 1.61% compared to the same quarter of 2017.

Employment in the Central Government increased by 1,044 persons (1.83%) and by 65 persons (1.11%) in Publicly Owned Enterprises and Companies, while a decrease of 24 persons (-0.57%) was recorded in the Local Authorities.

Compared to Q3 2018, employment in the broader public sector increased by 1,527 persons (2.29%). Employment in the Central Government increased by 1,577 persons or 2.78% and by 16 persons (0.27%) in Publicly Owned Enterprises and Companies but decreased by 66 persons (-1.55%) in the Local Authorities.

Job vacancies

Job vacancies in Q4 2018 reached 3,390, an increase of 126 positions or 3.9%, from 3,264 in the same quarter of the previous year, the Cyprus Statistical Service said.

Compared to Q3 2018 available jobs plummeted by 4,277 or 55.8%.

The job vacancy rate in Q4 2018 was 1%, while in the previous quarter and Q4 2017 it was 2.2% and 1% respectively.

 The largest job vacancy rates in the last quarter of 2018 were in the sectors of Information and Communication (3%) and Administrative and Support Service Activities (2.2%).