Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that both the unemployment rate (1.9%) and the underemployment rate (0.7%) for September-November 2016 held stable as in August-October 2016.

Total labour force was 393,100 and the labour force participation rate stood at 71.9%. Total employment decreased by 4,000 from August-October, at 385,500. Analysed by industry, employment in Construction registered a decrease, while that in Education and Retail Trade saw an increase.

Number of the unemployed was 7,600, up slightly by 100 as compared with August-October; fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job accounted for 14.7% of the total unemployed, down by 4.5 percentage points.

In comparison with September-November 2015, the labour force participation rate dropped by 1.3 percentage points; the unemployment rate held steady, while the underemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage point.