Registered jobless hit 8,339 mark

The number of registered unemployed in April amounted to 8,339 - 6,675 males and 1,664 females, according to statistics released by the National Statistics Office.

This translates into a decrease of 81 persons over March. However, on a year-to-year basis, there was an increase of 859 persons on the unemployment register.

Last month there were 1,068 unemployed persons who were under 20; 1,379 persons aged between 20 - 24; 1,026 between 25 - 29; 2,561 between 30 - 44 and 2,305 persons aged 45 and over.

The unemployment rate in December 2003 stood at 5.7 per cent of the labour supply. This figure translates into 6.4 per cent for men and 3.8 per cent for women.

The long-term unemployment rate in that month stood at 1.9 per cent, whereas the unemployment rate for persons who were 45 years and over stood at 4.3 per cent.

The unemployment rate among young people stood at 8.5 per cent. The rate of unemployment among males under 25 years of age was 9.9 per cent while that of females was 6.6 per cent.