Number of jobseekers rose by 7% in December

Koo Jin Shen
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

MORE locals are looking for work as the number of jobseekers rose in December, according to figures issued by the Department of Economic Planning and Development.

According to JPKE, the number of unemployed locals (Brunei citizens and permanent residents) aged 17 to 59 years old had increased by seven per cent to 15,272 in December, up from 14,267 in November.

The rise in unemployment numbers is due to a large spike of jobseekers in the Brunei-Muara district. The district had seen an increase of 11.2 per cent from November to December 2014, reaching 10,309 jobseekers last month, up from 9,268.

Meanwhile, the number of jobseekers Belait had decreased by 1.3 per cent to 2,111 in December from 2,139 in November of last year. Tutong had seen a decrease of 0.2 per cent, while Temburong recorded a 0.6 per cent decline.

More than half of the jobseekers, or 8,427, were women. But the JPKE data revealed a significant rise in the number of male jobsee-kers. There was of 7.7 per cent increase in the number of male jobseekers in December compared to a 6.5 per cent increment for female jobseekers in the same period.

Fifty-four per cent of those unemployed were between 20 and 29 years old. More than 60 per cent of total jobseekers had secondary education as their highest education attainment.

JPKE said the report estimated the latest number and profile of Brunei citizens and permanent re-sidents between 18 and 59 years old currently looking for work. Further queries regarding the figures can be made to info.statistics@jpke.gov.bn and the report can be found on their website at www.depd.gov.bn.


Sumber - The Brunei Times