Unemployment rate up to 8.1 pc in Q1 2010

Unemployment rate - calculated according to the International Labour Organization (ILO) procedure - topped 8.1 pc in the first quarter of 2010, up by 7.5 pc from the previous quarter and by 6.9 pc from a year ago, the National Statistics Institute (INS) reports, quoted by HotNews. In the first three months of 2010, the active population of Romania stood at 9.72 millions, of which 8.83 millions were occupied and 787,000 were jobless, according to ILO procedure.

Statistic data put urban unemployment rate at 5.8 pc. The unemployment rate throughout Q1 was close to the ILO figure: 8.1 pc in January, 8.3 pc in February and 8.4 pc in March 2010. INS however makes clear that the two sets of figures (its own and the ILO indicators) cannot be compared, because they refer to different time intervals and categories of people. In Q1 this year, the employment rate of population aged from 15 to 64 reached 57 pc, down 0.4 pc from both the previous quarter and from Q1 2009. The same as in the previous quarters, the employment rate was higher for the male population (64.0 pc, against 50.0 pc for women) and for people living in rural areas (57.6 pc, against 56.6 pc in urban areas). The employment rate of youth (aged 15 to 24) was 23.6 pc.

INS calculates the quarterly unemployment rate following an ILO procedure. According to ILO calculation, unemployment relies upon statistic research and consists in a home survey that gives the number of jobless and the active population. The unemployment rate is calculated each month by the National Employment Agency (ANOFM), as a ratio between the number of jobless registered with the Agency and the total active population.

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