Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the unemployment rate for November 2012-January 2013 held stable at 1.9% in comparison with the previous period (October-December 2012); the underemployment rate was 0.6%, down by 0.1 percentage point. Total labour force was 358,000; the labour force participation rate stood at 72.5%, up by 0.1 percentage point. Total employment increased continuously, reaching 351,000 in November 2012-January 2013, an increase of 1,400 from the previous period. Analysed by industry, employment in Retail Trade and Real Estate & Business Activities saw notable increase. Number of the unemployed was similar to the previous period, at 6,600; fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job accounted for 11.6% of the total unemployed, down by 4.5 percentage points. In comparison with November 2011-January 2012, the labour force participation rate went down by 0.7 percentage points; both the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points.
