The number of persons registering for work in July stood at 5,062 compared to 6,834 in the corresponding month last year, the NSO said this morning.

It said that according to figures issued by the Employment and Training Corporation (ETC) 1,766 fewer persons were registering for work compared to July 2014. Decreases in registered unemployment were recorded among all age groups when compared to the same month in 2014 .

The largest decrease was recorded among persons who had been registering for over one year. The number of persons with a disability who were registering for work also decreased by 109 to 384. Men accounted for 80.5 per cent of total unemployed with a disability.

The largest share of men on the unemployment register sought occupations as crafts and related trade workers, whereas women mostly sought occupations as clerical support workers.

The registered unemployment rate in March 2015 stood at 3.4 per cent of the labour supply, (excluding part-time employment), and varied from 4.0 per cent among men to 2.3 per cent among women.