Jobless toll slowed in December but outlook still bleak

UNEMPLOYMENT in December 2009, dropped 2.8 per cent, compared to November but for 2009 overall, the jobless rate jumped 51.7 per cent over 2008, the Statistical Service announced yesterday.
The average number of registered unemployed for 2009, reached 17,505, compared to 11,541 in 2008, an increase of 51.7 per cent. The increase was mainly recorded in the sectors of construction, trade, hotels and restaurants, real estate and business activities, manufacturing as well extending to newcomers in the labour market.
The number of unemployed people registered at the District Labour Offices on the last day of December 2009, reached 21,530.
These figures show that, based on the seasonally adjusted data, the number of registered unemployed reached 19,745 in December, a decrease of 2.8 per cent compared to the previous month.
November 2009 was a record month for unemployment, representing a 73 per cent rise in unemployment compared to the same month in 2008.
The statistics service said the figures for December 2009 showed that there were signs of stabilisation on the jobs market.
In comparison with December 2008 the December 2009 figures showed that there were 1,864 people more unemployed in the construction sector, 1,016 more unemployed in the trade sector, 956 more jobless people in the hotels and restaurants sector, 639 more without jobs in real estate and 553 more unemployed in the manufacturing sector.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance yesterday confirmed that unemployment was expected to continue rising in 2010.
‘This year is also expected to be a difficult year for the employment sector, despite the small slowdown in the increase of unemployment,” Minister of Labour Sotiroulla Charalambous.
“The Ministry of Labour will continue to closely monitor the employment sector, will be evaluating and enhancing its policies to support employees and minimise layoffs,” Charalambous added.
The rapid increase of unemployment in November was attributed to the mass layoffs in the construction and hotel and restaurant sectors. Each year, November 1 marks the temporary closure or work suspension for the hotel industry, as some hotels cannot sustain their operation in the winter months.
University graduates also had a harder time securing employment in 2009, as there were 371 more new market entrants who registered as unemployed, compared to the figures recorded in 2008.

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