The Labour Force Survey released by the National Statistics Office on Thursday indicates that during the first quarter of 2019 total employment stood at 241,468, amounting to more than half the population aged 15 and over.

Unemployed people stood at 8,853 (2.1 per cent) while inactive people totalled 165,235 (39.8 per cent).

The activity rate for the quarter under review was estimated at 74.9 per cent with the highest rate recorded among people aged 25 to 54 (86.7 per cent).

On average, out of every 100 people aged between 15 to 64 years, 72 were employed. The male employment rate for this age bracket was 81.6 per cent while that for females stood at 62.1 per cent.

The largest share of employed people was recorded among people aged between 25 and 34 years, for both males and females.

Self-employed people accounted for 15.1 per cent of all people with a main job. The majority of employed people worked on a full-time basis totalling 207,705 and 33,763 had a part-time job as their primary employment.

Results show that, on average, full-timers work 41.9 hours while part-timers work 22.2 hours per week.

The average annual basic salary of employees for the first quarter of 2019 was estimated at €19,390. The highest basic salary was recorded in the Financial and insurance activities sector.

Average annual salaries varied from €35,584 among managers to €12,441 among people employed in elementary occupations.

The unemployment rate for the first quarter of 2019, stood at 3.5 per cent.

The largest share of unemployed people was recorded among people aged 25 to 74 years.

Among the unemployed, 76.2 per cent stated that they had been seeking work for less than 12 months.

The main reason for inactivity relates to people reaching retirement age or taking up early retirement (40.3 per cent).

According to the Labour Force Survey, 51.5 per cent of the 15 plus population had attained a secondary or less level of education. This comprises people with less than five ordinary level or equivalent qualifications. Among the employed population, 30.9 per cent had a tertiary level education.