263,400 people were employed in first quarter of 2021 – NSO

During the first quarter of 2021, the Labour Force Survey estimates that 263,400 people were employed, 1.1% less when compared to the previous year, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the NSO said that this accounts for 60% of the population aged 15 and over.

The number of unemployed persons stood at 10,516 (2.4%) while inactive persons totalled 165,325 (37.6%).

The activity rate for the quarter under review was estimated at 77.2%, with the highest rate recorded among persons aged 25 to 54 years (89.4%).

On average, out of every 100 persons aged between 15 and 64 years, 74 were employed. The male employment rate for this age bracket was 81.7% while that for females stood at 65.7% .

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 15.9% of all persons with a main job. The majority of employed persons worked on a full-time basis and amounted to 232,222. A further 31,178 had a part-time job as their primary employment. Results show that, on average, full-timers usually worked 41 hours while part-timers worked 21.4 hours per week.

In the first quarter of 2021, employed persons actually worked 33.7 hours per week, 1.2 hours less when compared to the previous year. The average monthly basic salary of employees for the first quarter of 2021 was estimated at €1,597. The highest basic salary was recorded in the Financial and insurance activities sector. Average monthly salaries varied from €972 among persons employed in elementary occupations to €2,353 among managers.

The unemployment rate for the first quarter of 2021, stood at 3.9%. The largest share of unemployed persons was recorded among persons aged 25 to 74 years. Females accounted for 60% of total inactive persons. Persons 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.

Educational Attainment

Almost half of the persons aged 15 years and over had attained a low level of education. Meanwhile, 35.4% of the employed had a tertiary level education.