In August, the number of persons registering for work stood at 4,914 compared to 6,698 in the corresponding month last year, the NSO said today.

Data provided by the Employment and Training Corporation (ETC) for August indicate a decrease of 1,878 persons registering under Part I and an increase of 94 among those registering under Part II of the unemployment register, when compared to August 2014. Overall, decreases in registered unemployment were recorded among all age groups.

When compared to August last year, registrants for work decreased irrespective of how long they had been registering. The largest decrease was recorded among persons who had been registering for over one year. The number of persons with a disability who were registering for work also decreased by 62 to 402. Males accounted for 81.6 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 (18.0per cent), whereas their female counterparts mostly sought occupations as clerical support workers (27.0 per cent).

The registered unemployment rate in April 2015 stood at 3.2 per cent of the labour supply, (excluding part-time employment), and varied from 3.7 per cent among men to 2.2 per cent among women.g