Jobless rate hits 17.1 per cent

Cyprus recorded one of the highest year-on-year unemployment increases in September, reaching 17.1 per cent or 76,000 people, the European statistical service Eurostat said on Thursday.

Eurostat said the jobless rate in Cyprus rose from 12.7 per cent– 56,000 — in September 2012 to 17.1 per cent this year, the highest in the block along with Greece.

The euro area (EA17) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 12.2 per cent in September 2013, stable compared with August.

The EU28 unemployment rate was 11.0 per cent, also stable compared with August. In both zones, rates have risen compared with September 2012, when they were 11.6 per cent and 10.6 cent respectively.

In September 2013, 26.872 million men and women were unemployed in the EU28, of whom 19.447 million were in the euro area.

Compared with August 2013, the number of jobless people went up by 61,000 in the EU28 and by 60,000 in the euro area. Compared with September 2012, unemployment rose by 978,000 in the EU28 and by 996,000 in the euro area.

Among the Member States, the lowest September unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.9 per cent), Germany (5.2 per cent) and Luxembourg (5.9 per cent), and the highest in Greece (27.6 per cent in July 2013) and Spain (26.6 per cent).

 

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.