According to the Statistical Service, Cystat, job vacancies dropped to 3,053 compared with 3,240 in the same period of 2015 although the vacancy rate (number of jobs as a proportion of employment) was stable, at 1%.

The highest vacancy rate was in the tourism-related accommodation and food services sector, which reached 3.8%, while the lowest was in electricity, with no vacancies.

Public employment on the up

Vacancies in the public sector rose to 16 in the first quarter of 2016 from zero in the same period of 2015. Separate data report that employment in the public sector rose by 146 to 63,666 in the first quarter from 63,409 in the same period of 2015.

The increase in public-sector employment was entirely in central government, as there was a drop of 54 in local authority employment and 179 in publicly owned enterprises.

Eurostat reported earlier this week that overall employment in Cyprus had risen year on year by 1.6% in the first quarter.

Source: InCyprus