Jobless figure falls by 748

The registered number of unemployed in July dropped by 748 to 6,332 when compared to the same month last year, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

In the 12 months up to July 2007, all the age groups showed a decline in the number of registered unemployed with the exception of those aged 45 and over. Those aged under 20 decreased by 21.7 per cent; those between 20 and 24 by 20.9 per cent; those aged between 25 and 29 decreased by 14.4 per cent and those aged between 30 and 44 by 9.3 per cent.

In contrast, a marginal increase of 0.7 per cent was reported among the registered unemployed aged 45 and over.

In the year up to July, the duration of unemployment diminished across all the periods. A drop of 8.7 per cent occurred among those persons who have been registering for work for under 20 weeks; a drop of 25.4 per cent was reported among those who have been registering for work for 21 to 52 weeks; and a drop of 3.3 per cent was reported among those who have been registering for work for over 52 weeks.

Among men, occupations related to elementary duties, services and trades were the most common, whereas women tended to seek jobs which were clerical or service-oriented.

The unemployment rates for July 2007 are not available since the data on the labour supply for this month are not yet available.