Unemployment in the island has risen for the fourth month in a row.

The number of people registered out of work at the end of January increased by 28 on the previous month and has increased by 36 compared to January 2019.

The figures were released in the Isle of Man Labour Report for January.

In total, 142 people signed onto the unemployment register over the month, with 114 people leaving.

The unemployment rate for January remained the same as the previous month, December 2019, at 0.9%,

During the month 809 job vacancies were notified to the Job Centre, an increase on the previous month . At the end of the month, 658 remained. Of these 52% (341) were full time positions and 48% (317 were part time).

Sectors with the highest numbers of unemployed people included retail distribution, unskilled construction and tourist accommodation and other business services.

The International Labour Organisation estimated that 849 individuals were unemployed and looking for work in January 2020, compared with 821 in December 2019. This amounts to an unemployment rate of 2.0%.

Confirmation of the continued rise in the number of people unemployed in the island comes a day after Treasury Minister Alfred Cannan said in his Budget 2020 speech that ’lower welfare spending from our low unemployment figures’ was a part of the reason behind a better than expected surplus.