Unemployment down by 1,672 people last year

4,615 people were registered as unemployed last December, a significant decrease from the 6,287 that were registered as such a year earlier.

Employment and Training Corporation (ETC) data for December indicate a decrease of 1,688 persons registering under Part I and an increase of 16 among those registering under Part II of the unemployment register, when compared to December 2014.

Overall, decreases in registered unemployment were recorded among all age group.

When compared to December 2014, registrants for work decreased irrespective of how long they had been registering. 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 44, reaching 398. Males accounted for 79.6% of total registrants with a disability. 

The largest share of males on the unemployment register sought occupations as crafts and related trade workers (17.8%), whereas their female counterparts mostly sought occupations as clerical support workers (28.7%).