The number of registered unemployed in April 2002 stood at 7,637, down from 7,725 in March, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

No other figures are yet available for these months.

The NSO also gave figures for January 2002, when the number of registered unemployed persons went up by 507 persons or 6.8 per cent over the previous month and reached 7,940, as a result of which the unemployment rate went up to 5.5 per cent from 5.1 per cent.

In January 2002, the number of full-time gainfully occupied persons went down by 257 over the previous month and reached 137,239. When compared to January 2001, the full-time gainfully occupied dropped by 162.

The labour supply increased by 250 in January this year over the previous month and by 438 over its year-ago level.

Employment in private direct production dropped by 52 over the previous month and by 57 in comparison to the same month last year.

Similarly, the number of jobs in the private market services declined by 109 over the previous month and by 167 when compared to January 2001.

Although public sector employment was down by 73 over the previous month, it increased by 132 when compared to the January of last year.

The NSO issues two separate sets of data for labour and employment, the second being a labour force survey based on International Labour Organisation methodology.