The National Statistics Office yesterday published revised estimates for the Labour Force Survey from 2005 to 2013.

The survey indicates that the activity rate increased from 57.6 per cent in 2005, to 65.0 per cent in 2013. This growth is mainly attributed to the increase in the female participation in the labour force. In fact, during the same period, the activity rate for men grew by 0.9 percentage points,

The average annual unemployment rate in 2013 stood at 6.4 per cent, a drop of 0.5

percentage points when compared to 2005 levels. Over the period 2005-2013, the highest

unemployment rates were recorded among persons aged 15 to 24.

But the actual figures provided by the survey say there were 11,482 unemployed in 2012 rising to 12,004 the year after.