March unemployment down

A total of 7,564 persons were registering for work in March, according to the latest Employment and Training Corporation data.

The National Statistics Office, which released the figures, said this was 143 lower than in February.

In December, 2002, 7,516 persons were registering for work with the ETC.

The ETC's administrative records for December also indicate a drop of 599 persons in the labour supply compared to the previous month, the NSO said.

The drop was due to a reduction in the number of persons employed in the private direct production sector. A drop in the registered unemployed also contributed to the reduction in the labour supply in December 2002.

Accordingly, the full-time gainfully occupied population declined by 249 persons over the previous month and stood at 136,863. This gave an unemployment rate of 5.2 per cent.

The public sector reduced the size of its labour force by 926 persons (-1.9 per cent) in 2002 when compared to 2001. The major reduction occurred in the independent statutory bodies (-4.8 per cent).

The NSO also issued figures on employment based on ILO methodology, the labour force survey.