The number of employed persons rose to 374,651 and the employment rate 54.8% (males 60.1%, females 49.9%) compared with 371,916 persons (54.5%) and 361.433 persons (53.4%) in the 3rd quarter of 2016 and in the 4th quarter of 2015 respectively.

Unemployed persons reached 55,516 corresponding to an unemployment rate of 12.9% of the labour force (males 12.1%, females 13.8%) compared with 55,573 or 13.0% in the previous quarter of 2016 and 52,542 persons or 12.7% in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Youth unemployment remains high amounting to 29.8% of the labour force compared to 29.5% in the corresponding quarter of last year.

A total of 39.6% of the total unemployed persons searched for a job for a period of less than 6 months, 16.0% for a period of 6-11 months, whereas a percentage of 44.4% were long-term unemployed. The corresponding rates for the 4th quarter of 2015 were 32.6%, 19.1% and 48.3%.

Source: InCyprus