Jobless rate hits 5.8 per cent

There were 8,339 registered unemployed with the Employment and Training Corporation in April this year, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

Of these, 7,704 were registering under Part 1, while 635 were registering under Part 2 of the unemployment register.

The registered unemployment rate stood at 5.8 per cent of the labour supply.

The registered unemployment rate for men stood at 6.5 per cent, whereas that for women stood at four per cent.

The number of registered unemployed was marginally lower than the 8,420 recorded in the previous month.

Those registering under Part 1 are either new job seekers who have left school, re-entrants into the labour market or people who have been made redundant by their employer.

Those registering under Part 2 are either workers who have been dismissed from work due to disciplinary action, left work out of their own free will, refused work or training opportunities or were struck off the register after an inspection by law enforcement staff.

The NSO said that in April, the number of full-time gainfully occupied increased by 304 persons. Over a period of 12 months, from April 2003 to April 2004, the full-time gainfully occupied population dropped by 1,413 persons.

In the month under review, employment in the private direct production sector rose by 18 persons in comparison to March 2004.

In relation to the same month in the previous year, the number of the full-time gainfully occupied in the private direct production sector dropped by 1,237 persons.

Employment in the manufacturing sector remained stable last April over the preceding month.

The private market services sector increased its employment levels by 153 persons in April in comparison to March this year.

There was an increase of 367 persons employed in the private market services sector on a year-to-year basis.

Last April, employment in the hotels and catering establishments increased by 27 full-timers over the previous month. That in the wholesale and retail trade sub-sector increased by 14.

There was also an increase of 139 employees in the public sector. On a year-to-year basis, the public sector cut 470 employees.

In April, there were 19,130 persons holding a part-time employment as their primary occupation. On the other hand, there were 15,613 persons who held a part-time job in addition to their full-time employment.

A total of 4,251 persons whose part-time employment is their primary occupation work in hotels and catering establishments; 3,073 persons whose part-time employment is their primary occupation work in wholesale and retail trade.

Government departments employ 1,723 part-timers whose part-time job is their primary occupation.