Registered full-time employment and job vacancies have both increased according to statistics issued on Friday by the National Statistics Office.

Registered full-time employment was up by 4.2% in October 2024, compared to the same month the previous year, totalling 290,857.

There was an increase of 5.9% in people registered as being in part-time employment as their primary job.

Private sector full-time employment rose by 4.5% while full-time employment in the public sector was up by 3.2%.

There was a significant gender disparity in the increase in full-time employment too, with 3.8% more men securing full-time jobs and full-time employment for women rising by 4.9%.

Most full-time jobs were in the wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, and accommodation and food services.

Meanwhile the quarterly Job Vacancy Survey revealed that in the fourth quarter of 2024 the number of job vacancies rose by 3.4% to 7,892.

More than half of vacancies were in wholesale and retail trade, transportation and storage, accommodation and food services as well as professional, scientific, technical, administration and support services.

On the other hand, the real estate sector recorded the lowest number of job vacancies with just 1.6% of the total number of calls for applications in the fourth quarter of 2024.