Cyprus - Unemployment Rate

For Cyprus, the quarterly Labor Force Survey examines the sex and age structure of employment: Population, educational attainment, participation, full/part-time, permanent/temporary, agriculture/industry/services, wages, duration of employment, and joblessness.

Active:

• Measurements:
  • Unitary count of persons (#)
  • Percent (%)
• Adjustment: Not seasonally adjusted (NSA)
• Native frequency: Quarterly
• Start date: As early as 1999Q2

Terminated subsets:

• Unemployed and seeking job - 1999 to 2020

The source writes:

Measurements

All measurements are presented by sex (male, female, both). Instead of a complete set of equal-sized age brackets, various combinations at these breaks are used: 15, 18, 20, 24/25, 30, 34, 54/55, 64/65 years. For example, 15-24, 18-24, 25-64.

• Household population by age bracket
• Educational attainment by age bracket
• Engaged in education
• Labor force participation and employment by age cohort
• Employment in primary, secondary and tertiary industries (agriculture, industry, services)
• Employment by tenure
• Youth unemployment
• Unemployment by duration
• Average exit age from labor force
• Children (age 0-17 years) and people (18-59) living in jobless households

The following is quoted or paraphrased from the source's own documentation.

Survey identity

The Labor Force Survey (LFS) is conducted in all European Union Member States in accordance with Council Regulation 577/98 of the European Union. In most countries the survey is conducted every quarter. In Cyprus it was carried out in 1999 for the first time and until 2003 it was conducted in the second quarter of every year. From 2004Q2, the LFS became a continuous survey in order to comply with a new regulation of the European Union.

Coverage and collection of data

The LFS covers a sample of 3,600 households in all districts of Cyprus, which are allocated according to the number of households that reside in urban and rural areas.

For comparability of the results in all Member States, the survey covers the population of private households only. It does not cover persons residing in collective households (i.e., institutions, homes for the aged, hospitals, monasteries etc.), conscripts on compulsory military service as well as students who study abroad and Cypriots who work abroad.

In Cyprus the collection of the data, from the Statistical Service, is done with personal interviews and the use of portable computers as well as with telephone interviews.

Aims of the survey

The aim of the LFS is the collection of data which are useful in the formulation of policy on labor matters (employment, unemployment) and for pursuing and evaluating of the programs that are applied both by Government and by the European Union. In particular the survey is promoting the pursuance of:

1. The study of the Labor Force structure (unemployed, employed) by branch of economic activity, occupation, professional status, full/part time employment etc.
2. The study of the state of employment and unemployment of the population aged 15 years and over in relation with sex, age and level of education.
3. The study of the existence or not of a second job for the employed, hours of work etc.

Definitions

Labor force / Economically active population

The total number of the employed and unemployed persons aged 15 years and over.

Employed

Persons aged 15 years and over who during the reference week worked for at least one hour, plus persons who had a job but were temporarily absent from work.

Unemployed

Persons aged 15 years and over who:

• Neither worked nor had a job from which they were temporarily absent during the reference week.
• Had actively sought for work, i.e. had taken specific steps during the previous four weeks to find work.
• Were available to start work within the two weeks following the reference week.
• Neither worked nor had a job from which they were temporarily absent, but found a job which will start within a period of at most three months.
• Were available to start work within the two weeks following the reference wee.

Inactive

Persons aged 15 and over who are neither employed nor unemployed.

Labor force participation rate

The number of persons in the Labor Force for any group, expressed as a percentage of the total population in the same group.

Employment rate

The number of employed persons for any group expressed as a percentage of the total population in the same group.

Unemployment rate

The number of unemployed persons of any group expressed as a percentage of the labor force in the same group.

Moody's Analytics supplements

For the labor force status quartet, we produce seasonally adjusted counterparts using X-13ARIMA-SEATS.

The LFS is a sample survey that presents estimated results. Each year, the quarterly results are benchmarked to annual data, and the past four quarters are revised. For example, the 2011 benchmark revised values upward by about 10%.

Further reading

At the source:

• Labor Force Survey
• Average monthly earnings of employees by quarter
• Press release » Labour Force Survey (LFS): 1st Quarter 2020 » Methodological information (pdf)
• Differences in employment estimates (national accounts vs labor force survey (LFS))

At IMF (SDDS):

• Labor market: Employment
• Labor market: Unemployment