Labour force survey shows 5% higher employment – NSO

During the fourth quarter of 2021, the Labour Force Survey estimates that total number of persons in employment was 274,110, 5% higher when compared to the previous year, the NSO said.

Labour Force Survey estimates indicated that, during the fourth quarter, total employment stood at 274,110 accounting for 61.7% of the population aged 15 and over. Unemployed persons stood at 8,927 (2%), while inactive persons totalled 161,485 (36.3%). The activity rate for the quarter under review was estimated at 79.1% with the highest rate recorded among persons aged 25 to 54 (90.9%).

The employed population on average, out of every 100 persons aged between 15 and 64 years, 77 were employed. The male employment rate for this age bracket was 83.4%, while that for females stood at 69.1%. The largest share of employed persons was recorded among persons aged between 25 and 34 years, for both males and females.

Self-employed persons accounted for 15.3% of all persons with a main job. The majority of employed persons worked on a full-time basis and amounted to 243,016. A further 31,094 had a part-time job as their primary employment. Results show that, on average, full-timers usually worked 40.9 hours while part-timers worked 21.9 hours per week.

In the fourth quarter of 2021, employed persons actually worked an average of 33.6 hours per week, 1 hour less when compared to the previous year. The average monthly basic salary of employees for the fourth quarter of 2021 was estimated at €1,613. The highest basic salary was recorded in the Financial and Insurance activities sector. Average monthly salaries varied from €970 among persons employed in elementary occupations to €3,037 among managers. The unemployed and inactive population rate for the fourth quarter of 2021, stood at 3.2%.

The largest share of unemployed persons was recorded among persons aged 25 to 74 years. Females accounted for 59.4% of total inactive persons and those over 65 years made up the highest share of the inactive. Over 40% were inactive because they had reached retirement age or were taking up early retirement.

Almost half of the persons aged 15 years and over had attained a low level of education. By contrast, 34% of the employed had a tertiary level education.