UNEMPLOYMENT rates in Cyprus have decreased by 11.5 per cent in the first six months of this year.
According to the Statistics Department, in June of this year, 2.8 per cent of the working population was unemployed.
There was increase of 822 unemployed people bringing the total for the first six months of 2001 to 8,644, an improvement on last year’s figures of 9,772 for the same period.
The seasonal increase in the number of people unemployed has been blamed on the influx to the labour market coinciding with the end of the school year.
The manufacturing sector had 1,452 people out of work, compared to 2,183 in 2000, the commerce sector 1,375 compared to 1,334 in 2000 and the public works sector 1,262 compared to 687 last year.
Other sectors have 1,078 unemployed compared to last year’s figure of 1,801.
There were 907 new people entering the labour market this year as unemployed, compared to the 534 in 2000.
According to statistics 1,307 had been unemployed for 15 days, 3,808 for between 15 days and three months, 1,687 for three to six months, 1,250 for six to 12 months and 592 for over a year.
Statistics also show that the highest unemployment rate is in Nicosia, with 3,982 people collecting unemployment benefit from the Welfare Department, followed by Limassol with 2,631, Larnaca and Famagusta with 1,250 and Paphos with 781 people.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
