The number of people out of work has fallen again.

February’s official figures were released today.

They show a fall in the number of registered unemployed people is 297. That’s 12 down on January and 525 down on 12 months ago.

A total of 1,090 vacancies were notified to the Job Centre in February. At the end of the month 961 remained. There has been a significant rise in the number of vacancies every month since June 2021.

A delve into the detail shows the sector that’s struggling most to fill vacancies is catering and entertainment, where there were 227 jobs to be filled.

Medical and health services had 112 vacancies while the tourist accommodation sector needed 129 more workers.

During the pandemic, the number out of work peaked in May 2020 at 1,347. It dropped afterwards but rose again during the two lockdowns in the first three months of last year.

A total of 58% of those out of work have no qualifications.

Registered unemployment is measured as a claimant count of people registered for Jobseeker’s Allowance.

While the Manx unemployment rate is 0.7%, the International Labour Organisation estimate is 1.7% and the number unemployed is 742.

The ILO estimate includes people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance and those who are not registered but may still be looking for work.