Jobless exceed 8,100

There were 8,131 registered unemployed with the Employment and Training Corporation in July this year, 189 more than the number recorded in the previous month, according to the National Statistics Office.

The registered unemployment rate stood at 5.6 per cent of the labour supply.

In July, the number of full-time gainfully occupied persons increased by 531 over the previous month. Over a period of 12 months to July, the full-time gainfully occupied population dropped by 714 persons.

In the month under review, employment in the private direct production sector increased by 214 persons in comparison to June 2004. Employment in the manufacturing sector increased by 162 in the same period.

The private market services sector increased its employment levels by 436 persons in July in comparison to June this year.

The wholesale and retail trade sub-sector increased 87 persons in its full-time employment complement over the previous month.

The NSO said that in July a drop of 122 employees was recorded in the public sector. On a year-to-year basis, the public sector decreased by 640 employees.

In July there were 37,652 part-time jobs in the labour market.