Unemployment drops to five-year low

Friday 08 April 2016

The number of people looking for work dropped by 110 last month, bringing unemployment to its lowest level since April 2011.

The Social Security department says that there were 1,380 people registered as Actively Seeking Work at the end of March.

That number includes 350 people who are in work, but who are classed as underemployed – which means that they are working less than 35 hours per week.

But the number of people registered as Actively Seeking Work for a year or more has gone up by 30 since this time last year.

Of the 1,380 people on the list at the end of March, 77% were on Income Support, and they were very slightly more likely to be women than men.

Around 12% of the total – or 160 individuals – were aged between 16 and 19.