Unemployment rate at 6.8 per cent in second quarter

The island’s unemployment rate stood at 6.8 per cent of the labour force in the second quarter of 2022, recording a decrease of 1.6 per cent compared with the corresponding quarter of 2021.

However, the data recorded a small increase of 0.2 per cent compared with the first quarter of 2022, when the unemployment rate stood at 6.6 per cent.

According to the statistical service’s labour force survey, those out of work at the end of the second quarter numbered 32,903 compared with 39,224 or 8.4 per cent in the corresponding quarter of 2021.

The labour force in the second quarter numbered 482,385 persons or 65.1 per cent of the population. Men made up 71.2 per cent of the working population, and women 59.5 per cent.

The number of employed persons was 449.482 and the employment rate 60.6 per cent – men 66.9 per cent, females 54.9 per cent – in comparison to 42,300 persons – 58.5 per cent – in the corresponding quarter of 2021.

The survey recorded a slight rise in unemployment figures for the younger portion of the population, aged between 15 and 24 years old, with the jobless rate reaching 17.6 per cent. The jobless rate among young males was 16.3 per cent, and young women 18.9 per cent.

The rate of employment for the 20-64 age group was recorded at 78 per cent, with 84.2 per cent of that number being men and 72.2 percent women.

In the corresponding quarter of 2021, the rate was 75.2 per cent (males 81.9 per cent, females 69 per cent).

Meanwhile, for the 55-64 age group, the employment rate was up, reaching 65.9 per cent in comparison with 62.2 per cent in the corresponding quarter of 2021.

According to the distribution of employment by sector, the biggest percentage of people were employed in the services sector (80.7 per cent), followed by manufacturing (16.8 per cent) and agriculture (2.5 per cent).

For the second quarter of 2021, the corresponding percentages were: services 78.5 per cent, manufacturing 18.6 per cent and agriculture 2.9 per cent.

The share of part-time employment to total employment was recorded at 10.9 per cent or 48,858 people (males 9 per cent, females 13 per cent). The corresponding rate for the 2nd quarter of 2021 was 11.4 per cent (males 10.1 per cent, females 12.8 per cent).

A total of 89.1 per cent or 400,630 of the total number of people in work were employees, of which 11.4 per cent (45,679) had a temporary job. In the corresponding quarter of 2021 employees accounted for 88.1 per cent of total employment of which 13.1 per cent had a temporary job.

As far as the duration of unemployment is concerned, 49.3 per cent of the total number of unemployed individuals looking for work, the survey recorded that they searched for a job for a period of less than six months, while 13.3 per cent were on the job hunt for a period of 6-11 months, whereas a percentage of 37.4 per cent were long-term unemployed. The corresponding rates for the 2nd quarter of 2021 were 40.5 per cent, 24 per cent and 35.5 per cent.