The island’s falling unemployment figures has sparked a call from a politician to relaz the island’s work permit system.

Unemployment in the Isle of Man has fallen its lowest level since October 2004.

And the unemployment rate - the proportion of the economically-active population registered without work - also fell last month to 1 per cent, down from 1.1 per cent in April. This is the lowest it’s been since September 2004.

These latest labour market figures show a mismatch between jobs available and people qualified to do them - and provide further evidence of a growing skills shortage in certain sectors of the economy.

There were 440 people registered unemployed at the end of May, compared with 663 a year earlier.During the month 133 signed on but 155 signed off.

A total of 1,039 vacancies were notified to the Job Centre during the month, of which 594 remained. Of those 428 were full-time positions. The number of vacancies is the highest recorded in any single month since records began in 1981.

There are 59 vacancies in the health industry and 65 in e-gaming, while there are 23 unskilled people with a background in construction looking for work.

The International Labour Organisation estimate of unemployment, which includes those who are not registered as unemployed but are still looking for work, give a jobless figure of 885 which represents an unemployment rate of 2.1 per cent.

Of the 155 individuals who signed off from claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance during the month, 72.3 per cent returned to work, 20.6 per cent went onto other benefits, and 4.5 per cent were recorded as having left the island.

The remaining 3 per cent either didn’t provide a reason or were classified as ’other’.

Some 12 per cent of those who signed off secured jobs in construction, with 9 per cent in retail distribution and 10 per cent in catering and entertainment, and the remaining 40 per cent distributed fairly evenly across the remaining sectors of the economy.

The record number of vacancies is reflective of a growing economy with employers increasingly looking to take on new staff - although some of the vacancies notified during the month are likely to be seasonal due to the TT and various summer work.

Treasury member Bill Shimmins MHK claimed the latest figures showed the increasing urgency of a need to relax the work permit regime.

He said: ’It’s good that we’ve got low levels of unemployment but we’ve got a skills shortage. I’m really concerned that a number of employers are unable to recruit the people they need, not just in the private sector but public sector front line workers as well.

’In this context, you have to question why it’s taken so long to relax the work permit regime. We have had a lot of talk but no action. I’m concerned it’s taken too long. It’s becoming an increasingly urgent problem.

’This is holding the country back. We need to increase the economically active population.’