Cyprus unemployment drops y/y in Q1

The unemployment rate in Cyprus dropped sharply in the first quarter of 2007 compared with the same period of 2006, according to the quarterly Labour Force Survey.

The number of unemployed reached 18,808 (males 8,933 and females 9,875) in the first quarter of 2007, compared with 21,993 in the first quarter of 2006.

The unemployment rate reached 4.8% of the labour force (males 4.2% and females 5.7%) while in the corresponding quarter of 2006 the rate was 5.9% (males 5.3% and females 6.6%).

The unemployment rate for young persons aged 15-24 fell to 10.9% compared with 12.0% in the corresponding quarter of 2006.

Compared with the fourth quarter of 2006, the unemployment rate was 4.2% (males 3.7% and females 4.9%).

The number of employed persons rose to 369,308 (males 204,638 and females 164,670) in the first quarter of 2007 compared with 350,656 (males and females) in the first quarter of 2006.

The employment rate for persons aged 15-64 was 69.8% (males 78.8% and females 61.3%) and remained at the same level with the previous quarter while it recorded a small increase from the corresponding quarter of 2006.