Unemployment at 7,176 down by 174 from March

Administrative records held at the Employment and Training Corporation (ETC ) indicate a year-on-year increase of 601 persons (9.9 per cent) registering for work under Part 1 of the unemployment register. On the other hand, persons registering under Part 2 dropped by 198, or 28.9 per cent, to 486.

In the twelve months to April, registered unemployment on the mainland increased by 377, or 6.2 per cent, while that for Gozo increased by 26, or 3.6 per cent. The number of registered unemployed aged 45 and over increased by 173, or 6.2 per cent. Conversely the number of registered unemployed aged under 20 declined by 13.5 per cent.

When compared to the corresponding month a year ago, registrants whose duration of unemployment exceeded one year went up by 441, or 18.8 per cent. On the other hand, unemployed persons who had been on the register for less than 21 weeks decreased by 174, or 5.9 per cent.

During the period under review, persons with a disability registering under Part 1 of the unemployment register increased by 44, or 9.3 per cent.

During April 580 women, or 34.3 per cent of all female registrants, were looking for clerical jobs, while 1,025 men, or 18.7 per cent of male registrants, were looking for service and sales-related jobs.

In December 2012 the registered unemployment rate stood at 4.3 per cent of the labour supply - 5.0 per cent males and 2.8 per cent females. The long-term unemployment rate stood at 1.6 per cent.

Unemployment rate of persons aged under 25 stood at 5.0 per cent - a decline of 0.4 percentage points when compared to the previous month.