Unemployment figures for April 2018 show an increase of eight people compared with last month.

Unemployment figures for the month of April peaked in 2012 and 2013 when the number crept over 1,000, but the figures have decreased year on year since then and this month’s April figure is the lowest since 2004.

The retail sector, and catering and entertainment have the highest unemployment rate, at 33 in each sector, but they also have the highest number of vacancies with 69 in retail and 131 in catering and entertainment.

Medical and health services has the second highest number of vacancies at 88.

Despite the increase, statistics released by the government point out there are 55 fewer unemployed people than in April last year.

The island’s unemployment rate for April stood at one per cent, which is an increase of 0.1 per cent on March.

Currently 291 men are without a job, compared with 116 women, representing 79 and 21 per cent of job seekers respectively.

Of the 917 job vacancies registered with the job centre, in April, 627 remained unfilled at the end of the month.

The statistics show the highest number of unemployed people remain on the register for between one and three months (just over 90) and that 22 per cent of long-term (over one year) unemployed people are under 24, while 43 per cent are over 55.

The east of the island has the highest number of job vacancies at just over 500 but it also has the most unemployed people at 253. In both the north and the west of the island the jobless total exceeds the number of vacancies. In the north, there are around 80 job seekers chasing about 20 vacancies, and in the west about 20 people are competing for around 10 vacancies.

There are 78 people without jobs in the north, 45 in the south and 31 in the west.

The 20 to 29 age group has the highest rate or short term unemployment.