For the first month of 2006, the number of people over the age of 15 was estimated to be 325,243, according to National Statistics Office figures.

The NSO said that the majority, or 50.6 per cent, were inactive, but the total number of those employed reached 148,230, or 45.6 per cent of all those over 15 years of age.

Additionally, the total number of unemployed for the three months to February 2006 reached 12,561.

The activity rate, which is defined as the number of people in the labour force aged between 15 and 64 years as a percentage of the working population, stood at 58 per cent.

The activity rate for males stood at 79.5 per cent while that for females reached 36.3 per cent.

Of the working population aged between 15 and 64, 53.5 per cent were employed. The male employment rate was 74.4 per cent while the female employment rate was 32.3 per cent.

For the three months to February 2006, the unemployment rate was estimated to be 7.8 per cent. The unemployment rate for males stood at 6.4 per cent while that for females was 11 per cent.

For the month under review, the total number of self-employed reached 20,920 persons. This figure was made up of 14,467 sole proprietors and another 6,453 self-employed with employees.

The majority of the total number of those employed were employees, with a total of 127,130 people. Of these, 67.4 per cent were males and 32.6 per cent were females. Additionally, the number of employed persons were categorised by economic sector.

The number of people working in the agriculture sector reached 3,419. A fall in the industry sector was registered when compared to the same period last year to reach the estimate of 42,392 people. This decrease was mostly attributed to a reduction in employment in the manufacturing sector. The majority of people, or 69.1 per cent of the total employed, worked in the services sector.

The Labour Force Survey is an enquiry which is carried out using a random sample of 2,500 private households. The criteria used for this survey are on the same lines as international methodologies used by ILO as further explained in the methodological notes.

All the data contained in this release refers to those aged 15 years and over.