The number of registered unemployed remained steady at just under 7,100 in July, the National Statistics Office reported yesterday. The unemployment rate for March 2006, at 5.3 per cent, eased slightly from the same month last year.

Quoting data from the Employment and Training Corporation, the NSO said that, for the month under review, the number of registered unemployed stood at 7,080.

This implies that there was hardly any change in the number of those registered unemployed compared to the same month last year.

The majority of those registering under Part 1 and Part 2 were men aged between 30 and 44. The 20 to 24-year old category accounted for the majority of female registrations under Part 1 and 2, followed by the 30 to 44 age group. During July 2006, Gozo accounted for 9.8 per cent of total registrations.

A year-on-year comparison indicates that the number of people registering for less than 20 weeks has risen among Part 1 registrants and fallen among the Part 2 registered unemployed. The same trend can also be observed when comparing June 2005 with June 2006.

Among men, occupations related to crafts, plant and machine operators and elementary duties were the most common occupations sought, whereas women tended to seek jobs which were clerical or service-oriented.

Unemployment rates for March 2006

In March 2006, the unemployment rate stood at 5.3 per cent of the labour supply, compared to 5.5 per cent in the same month last year. On a gender basis, the male unemployment rate stood at 5.8 per cent, while the female unemployment rate stood at 4.1 per cent.

The long-term unemployment rate stood at 1.8 per cent.

The unemployment rate among older people (45 years of age and over) amounted to 3.9 per cent. On the other hand, the unemployment rate among young people (under 25 years of age) stood at 9.1 per cent.