The number of people out of work in the Isle of Man has risen from last month’s figure but it is still down from a year ago.

The number of people registered unemployed was 302 for July 2022.

Government number-crunchers say it increased by 17 people from the previous month, and has dropped by 143 persons compared to the same month last year (July 2021).

In 2020 the figure was 1,100. In 2019, before the pandemic, it was 302.

The unemployment rate for July 2022 is 0.7%, remaining the same as the previous month.

But the International Labour Organisation estimate is that there are 747 people looking for work, an unemployment rate of 1.7%. The latest available ILO figure for the UK is 3.9%.

There were 879 vacancies at the Job Centre in the month, down 100 from June.

The sectors which have most vacancies are catering and entertainment (198), business services (118) and medical and health services (120).

The statistics don’t tell the whole story in terms of the size of the working-age population.

For example, when people take early retirement, they drop out of the workforce and cut the unemployment figure.

Similarly, if more people have moved from the island than moved to it, that will affect the unemployment rate.