The unemployment rate reached close to 7 per cent for the last quarter of 2022, figures published by the Cyprus Statistical Service (CyStat) showed, while unemployment among young people stood close to 20 per cent.

According to the figures published by CyStat, unemployment reached 6.9 per cent for the fourth quarter of 2022, while for young people aged 15-24 it stood at 19.2 per cent.

The figure also showed that one in three people without a job are long-term unemployed.

According to the results of the labour force survey, the labour force in the 4th quarter of 2022 amounted to 489,650 persons or 65.5 per cent of the population. In comparison with the corresponding quarter of 2021, the labour force amounted to 473,537 persons or 64.5 per cent.

The number of employed persons was 455,727 and the employment rate 61 per cent, in comparison to 443,937 persons, or 60.5 per cent in the previous year.

The number of unemployed persons amounted to 33,922 and the unemployment rate to 6.9 per cent of the labour force, of which 15,291 males and 18,631 females. In Q4, 2021 29,600 persons or 6.3 per cent were unemployed.

For the age group 20-64, the employment rate was 78.1 per cent.

The rate for men was 84.2 per cent and for women 72.5 per cent.

For the age group 55-64 the employment rate was 65.3 per cent in comparison to 65.7 per cent in the corresponding quarter of 2021.

According to the distribution of employment by sector, the biggest percentage of employed persons was in services (80.3 per cent), followed by manufacturing (17.4 per cent) and agriculture (2.3 per cent). For the 4th quarter of 2021, the corresponding percentages were: services 81.1 per cent, manufacturing 16.5 per cent and agriculture 2.4 per cent.

The share of part-time employment to total employment was 10.1 per cent or 45,916 persons, of which 17,821 men and 28,095 women. The corresponding rate for the 4th quarter of 2021 was 11.2 per cent.

Almost all (89.3 per cent) or 406,907 of those in the workforce were employees, of which 11.3 per cent had a temporary job. In the corresponding quarter of 2021 employees accounted for 88.9 per cent of total employment of which 12.3 per cent had a temporary job.

For young persons aged 15-24 years old, the unemployment rate was 19.2 per cent of the labour force of the same age group in comparison to 17.4 per cent in the corresponding quarter of last year.

As far as the duration of unemployment is concerned, 54 per cent of the total unemployed persons searched for a job for a period of less than 6 months, 13.6 per cent for a period of 6-11 months, whereas a percentage of 32.4 per cent were long-term unemployed.