In April, the number of persons registering for work stood at 5,568 compared to 7,291 in the corresponding month last year, the NSO said.

Registered Unemployed: April 2015

Data provided by the Employment and Training Corporation (ETC) for April indicate a decrease of 1,708 persons registering under Part I and a drop of 15 among those registering under Part II of the unemployment register, when compared to the corresponding month last year. Overall, decreases in registered unemployment were recorded among all age groups.

When compared to April last year, persons registering for work decreased irrespective of how long they had been registering for work. The largest decrease was recorded among persons who had been registering for employment for over one year. The number of persons with a disability who were registering for work also decreased by 117 to 419.

Males accounted for 81.4 per cent of total registrants with a disability. The largest share of males on the unemployment register sought occupations as crafts and related trade workers (17.6 per cent), whereas their female counterparts mostly sought occupations as clerical support workers (26.7 per cent).

The registered unemployed rate in December 2014 stood at 3.7 per cent of the labour supply, (excluding part-time employment), and varied from 4.4 per cent among men to 2.4 per cent among women.