Labour Force Survey: Estimated 315,545 people were in employment in Q2 2024
Labour Force Survey estimates indicated that, during the second quarter of 2024, total employment stood at 315,545, accounting for 64.3% of the population aged 15 years and over.
The number of unemployed persons stood at 10,509 (2.1%), while inactive persons totalled 164,369 (33.5%), the NSO said. “The activity rate for the quarter under review was estimated at 81.1% with the highest rate recorded among persons aged 25 to 54 (91.7%).”
On average, out of every 100 persons aged between 15 and 64 years, 78 were employed, the NSO said. “The male employment rate for this age bracket was 84.5% while that for females stood at 71%. “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 14.2% of all persons with a main job. The majority of employed persons worked on a full-time basis and amounted to 279,819. A further 35,726 had a part-time job as their primary employment. Results show that, on average, full-timers usually worked 41.0 hours, while parttimers worked 22.4 hours per week. In the second quarter of 2024, employed persons actually worked 34.9 hours per week, 0.4 hours less when compared to the same quarter of the previous year.”
“The average monthly basic salary of employees for the second quarter of 2024 was estimated at €1,942. The highest basic salary was recorded in the Financial and Insurance activities sector. Average monthly salaries varied from €1,280 among persons employed in elementary occupations to €3,162 among managers”, the NSO said.
The unemployed and inactive population
The unemployment rate for the second quarter of 2024, stood at 3.2%, the NSO said. “The largest share of unemployed persons was recorded among persons aged 25 to 74 years. Females accounted for 58.7% of total inactive persons, and those over 65 years made up the highest share of the inactive. The main reason for inactivity relates to persons reaching retirement age or taking up early retirement (41.9%).
Education Attainment
Almost 40% of persons aged 15 years and over had attained a low level of education. By contrast, 37.6% of the employed had a tertiary level education, the NSO said.