Cyprus

1.Series

Title:

Statistics on registered unemployed persons.

Starting year:

1960.

2.Agency making the initial registrations of unemployed persons

Name of the agency:

Department of Labour through the Employment Service at district level.

Type of agency:

Public service under a national authority.

Name of the national authority:

Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance.

Location of the local offices making the registrations:

In all major cities of the Government controlled area of Cyprus.

Type of services provided/administered by the agency:

  • Assisting job-seekers to find jobs;
  • Assisting employers to find workers;
  • Vocational guidance;
  • Other: provision of services for the allocation of port workers.

    Percentage of job-seekers seeking work through the agency:

    about 78%* of unemployed job-seekers seek work through the agency. Another considerable number of employed persons seek better employment through the agency.

    * Registered unemployed as a percentage of total LFS unemployed.

    3.The following information is registered about a person:

  • Name;
  • Sex;
  • Social security number (or similar identification number also used by other agencies);
  • Address of usual residence;
  • Date of birth;
  • Citizenship;
  • Nationality/ethnic group.
  • Educational attainment, with 33 categories distinguished. Links to ISCED are in general established with small deviation;
  • Current/past activity status, with 6 categories distinguished;
  • Type of work (occupation) of past or present job, at the four digit level. Links to ISCO-88 have been established (unit group level);
  • Type of work (occupation) of job sought, at the four-digit level. Links to ISCO-88 have been established (unit group level);
  • Name and address of present or previous employer or work place;
  • Type of business (industry) of present/previous employer/workplace, at the two-digit level. Links to ISIC, rev.3 have been established (at the two-digit level);
  • Previous registrations with the agency/service;
  • Other: preferred district for work; type of employer sought (private, public, etc.); transport difficulties; whether current driving licence holder; comments on appearance, speech, manner, etc.; employment history as regards wages; reason for termination of previous employment.

    4.Criteria used for inclusion of a person in the registers (R)* and/or the statistics of unemployed persons (S):

  • Being totally without paid work (R) and (S);
  • Seeking work (R) and (S);
  • Availability for work (R) and (S);
  • Age (lower limit: 15 years; upper limit: 63-67 years, depending on date of receipt of Social Insurance pension) (R) and (S);
  • Citizenship (R) and (S);
  • Being resident in the country (R) and (S);
  • Desired duration of employment and/or number of hours of work sought (minimum 30 hours per week) (R) and (S).

    * Concerns "Unemployed" only; excludes those "Seeking better employment", etc.

    5.Criteria used for exclusion of a person from the registers (R) and/or the statistics of unemployed persons (S):

  • Death (R) and (S);
  • Taking up residency abroad (R) and (S);
  • Commencement of a (new) job (R) and (S);
  • Commencement of military service (R) and (S);
  • Participation in an employment promotion scheme, public works programme, etc. (R) and (S);
  • Studying or undergoing training (R) and (S);
  • Failure to contact the agency/service (R) and (S);
  • Refusal of 3 suitable job offers (R) and (S);
  • Receipt of a pension (R) and (S);
  • Inability to work (R) and (S).

    6.Definition of unemployed persons used for the statistics

    Persons are considered as unemployed if they are registered as totally unemployed and looking for work at the District Labour Offices on the last day of each month. It includes those persons who receive unemployment benefit from the Social Insurance as well as those not entitled to any benefit.

    7.Updating of the registers

    The registers are updated on a continuous basis.

    8.Unemployment rates

    Statistics from the registers are used to obtain unemployment rates.

    The source of data on employed persons who are part of the denominator of the unemployment rates is Official Estimates.

    Definition of employed persons for this purpose:

    Persons who worked at least one hour during the reference week or persons who had a job but happened not to work during the reference week.

    9.Type of statistics of unemployed persons produced

    Series:

    Number unemployed.

    Reference period:

    Month.

    Frequency of production:

    Monthly; Yearly.

    Descriptive variables used:

  • Sex;
  • Age;
  • Educational level;
  • Occupation;
  • Industry;
  • Geographic characteristics;
  • Previous work experience;
  • Duration of unemployment.

    Form of publication:

  • On paper, for general audience;
  • Machine-readable form, on request.

    Agency responsible for publication:

    Statistical Service, Ministry of Finance.

    Title and periodicity of the publications:

    Registered Unemployed (monthly); Monthly Economic Indicators (bi-monthly); Labour Statistics (yearly).

    10.Methodological information about the statistics

    Form of release:

    Press release and Internet release.

    11.Comparisons with unemployment statistics from other sources

    Comparisons have been made with unemployment statistics from the Labour Force Survey.

    Frequency of the comparisons:

    Regularly when the statistics are published.

    Publication of the methodology/results of the comparisons:

    These have not been published.

    12.Major changes since the start of the statistics

    There have been no major changes in legislation, capacity of the agency and/or administrative procedures which had a significant influence on the statistics. However, systems of classifications of occupations and industries have changed in order to comply with United Nations systems.