The island’s unemployment rate remains unchanged, the government’s number crunchers say.

Statistics released today by the economic affairs division show that there were two fewer people on the unemployment register in October than in September.

That means the Manx unemployment rate is 0.8%, or 1.8% if the International Labour Organisation estimate is used.

The more telling statistic is that there were 216 fewer people on the register in October 2017 than a year earlier.

The figure for October this year is 336, of whom 229 were men and 107 were women.

Five years ago, the number on the register was 1,065.

But the working population is now likely to be smaller than it was then because of the decline in population and the fact that the number reaching retirement age has risen.

Last month there was also a rise in the number of vacancies notified to the job centre. At the end of the month, 426 remained, of which 305 were for permanent jobs.