Registered full-time employment increased by 5.1% in April while part-time work as a primary job increased by 3.5% when compared to the same month a year ago.

The National Statistics Office said that administrative data provided by Jobsplus showed that, over a one-year period, the labour supply, excluding part-timers, increased by 4.4 per cent, reaching 190,554.

This was mainly attributed to a year on year increase in the full-time gainfully occupied population (9,188) and further complimented by a drop in registered unemployment (1,174).

Registered full-time employment in the private sector went up by 8,430 persons to 142,755. Public sector full-time employment increased by 758 persons to 45,222.

The number of persons registered as full-time self-employed rose by 723 when compared to April 2016, while the number of persons registered as employees increased by 8,465.

Full-time employment for males and females went up by 4% and 7.1% respectively over 2016 levels.

Registered part-time employment in April 2017 went up by 5.8% when compared to a year earlier.

The number of part-timers who also held a full-time job amounted to 25,161 up by 9.3% when compared to the corresponding month in 2016.

Employed persons whose part-time job was their primary occupation totalled 34,858, up by 3.5% when compared to 2016.