The rate of unemployment has decreased by six per cent last year in comparison to that of previous year. The constant development recorded in the agriculture, Industrial and Service sectors had been a major contributory factor for this downturn the Government Information Department said in a release citing the Budget situation report released by the Finance Ministry in terms of the Financial Management (Responsibilities) Act No. 3 of 2003. The release said that according to the report the actual number of total unemployed in 2006 stood at 447,000. The Ministry report cited several reasons for the decrease in unemployment. They are various employment generation projects launched by the Public and Private sectors, systematic dissemination of information regarding the job market and proper vocational guidance programmes. Although unemployment among youth was relatively higher the rate of unemployment among GCE Ordinary level qualified persons had decreased from 9.9 per cent to 8.2 per cent last year while that of GCE Advanced level and higher examination qualified persons had slightly increased from 11.6 per cent to 11.8 per cent.