The working-age population has increased, offsetting an increase in the employed population, with the national employment rate remaining at 54% and the unemployment rate at 9.1%.
From a statement issued by the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC)
The National Institute of Statistics and Census today released results of the Continuous Employment Survey (ECE) for the first quarter of 2017, the data shows that the national employed population is estimated at 2.06 million, which entails a statistically significant change to the year on year level for this quarter, as there was an increase of 68 thousand employed people in relation to the same period (January-March) of the previous year.
Despite the increase in the employed population, this was not enough to impact the national employment rate, which remains at 54%, without a statistically significant change, compared to the first quarter of the previous year, since the increase in the population of working age associated with growth in the employed population, was not enough to raise the rate. For the male population the rate was 68.0% and for the female population it was 39.9% without statistical change.
