266,553 people were in employment during the second quarter of 2021, which is 3.2% higher when compared to the previous year, the National Statistics Office has said.

It was quoting from Labour Force Survey estimates for the second quarter of 2021.

"Labour Force Survey estimates indicated that, during the second quarter, total employment stood at 266,553 accounting for 60.3% of the population aged 15 and over. Unemployed persons stood at 9,676 (2.2%) while inactive persons totalled 165,531 (37.5%). The activity rate for the quarter under review was estimated at 77.2% with the highest rate recorded among persons aged 25 to 54 (88%)."

The NSO said that, on average, out of every 100 persons aged between 15 and 64 years, 74 were employed. The male employment rate for this age bracket was 81.9%, while that for females stood at 65.9%. The largest share of employed persons was recorded among persons aged between 25 and 34 years, for both males and females.

Self-employed persons accounted for 15.1% of all persons with a main job. The majority of employed persons worked on a full-time basis and amounted to 237,365. A further 29,188 had a part-time job as their primary employment. Results show that, on average, full-timers usually worked 41.2 hours while part-timers worked 22.9 hours per week. In the second quarter of 2021, employed persons actually worked 34.9 hours per week, 3.3 hours more when compared to the previous year.

"The average monthly basic salary of employees for the second quarter of 2021 was estimated at €1,608. Average monthly salaries varied from €962 among persons employed in elementary occupations to €2,455 among managers."

The unemployment rate for the second quarter of 2021, stood at 3.5%. "The largest share of unemployed persons was recorded among persons aged 25 to 74 years. Females accounted for 60.1% of total inactive persons and those over 65 years made up the highest share of the inactive. Over 40% were inactive because they had reached retirement age or were taking up early retirement.

The NSO said that almost half of the persons aged 15 years and over had attained a low level of education. By contrast, 35.6% of the employed had a tertiary level education.