Unemployment rate drops to 3.9 pct in 2019; unemployment - rife among lower;medium education graduates

The rate of unemployment dropped last year to 3.9 pct, from 4.2 pct in 2018, and unemployment affected to a greater degree the graduates of lower and medium education, for whom the unemployment rate stood at 6.3 pct and 4 pct, respectively according to the National Institute for Statistics (INS) figures published on Wednesday. On the other hand, the unemployment rate in the case of higher education graduates showed a much smaller figure, of 1.6 pct, in 2019. Depending on gender, the gap between the two unemployment rates was of 0.9 percentage points (4.3 pct in men over 3.4 pct in women), and depending on the residence environment, the difference stood at 1.1 percentage points (4.5 pct in the rural environment over 3.4 pct in the urban environment). The INS data shows that the unemployment rate had the highest level (16.18 pct) among youths (15-24 years old). The long-term unemployment rate (in unemployment for a year or more) was of 1.7 pct, and the incidence of long-term unemployment (the rate of persons in unemployment for a year or more from the total) was of 42.4 pct. For youths (15-24 years old), the rate of long-term unemployment (in unemployment for six months or more) was 8.9 pct, and the incidence of long-term unemployment among youths was 52.9 pct. In 2019, the rate of employment in the working age population (15-64 pct) was 65.8 pct, up from the previous year by one percentage point. As in the previous year, the rate of employment was higher in men (74.6 pct over 56.8 pct in women), the INS mentions. By residence environment, the rate of employment was higher in the urban environment (67.1 pct over 64.2 pct in the rural environment). Among the population aged 20-64, the rate of employment was of 70.9 pct, by 0.9 percentage points over the national target of 70 pct established in the context of the Europe 2020 Strategy. The employment rate among youths (15-24) was of 24.7 pct, and among the elderly (55-64) was of 47.8 pct. "The highest level of the employment rate for working age persons was recorded among the graduates of higher education (89.2 pct). Graduates of medium education were employed at a rate of 68.6 pct and only 44.4 pct of those with lower education were employed," the INS release shows. Fixed wage employees, growing in number over the previous year (+80,000 persons), still held the largest rate (75.8 pct) of the total employed population. In 2019, self-employed workers and family workers with no pay represented 23.1 pct of the employed population. Qualified workers in agriculture, forestry and fishing represented 18.1 of the total employed population. Notable rates in the total of the employed population were held by qualified workers (16.1 pct), specialists in various domains of activity (15.6 pct) and workers in services (15.2 pct). Of the total number of persons employed, 21.2 pct worked in agriculture, 30.1 pct in industry or constructions and 48.7 pct in services. Non-agricultural activities employed 6.837 million persons, significant rates among them being held by those conducting their activity in the manufacturing industry (24 pct), commerce (18.6 pct) and construction (10.5 pct). Compared to 2018, more notable drops in the number of employed persons were recorded in agriculture, forestry and fishing (-94,400 persons) and the manufacturing industry (-35,100 persons). The most significant increases over the previous year were recorded in construction (+37,300 persons), commerce (+28,800 persons), administrative services and support services activities (+16,000 persons), healthcare and social assistance (+12,800 persons) and public administration and defence (+10,500 persons). Of the total number of persons employed in 2019; 619,000 persons worked part time (7.1 pct). The large majority of persons employed on a part time basis worked in the agricultural sector (85.8 pct). In 2019, the actual average duration of the work week for the main activity was of 38.9 hours per week. 148,000 persons also conducted secondary activities, working on average 13.5 hours per week. The active population of Romania was of 9,033 million persons, with 8,680 million persons employed and 353,000 unemployed. AGERPRES (RO - author: Mariana Nica, editor: Andreea Marinescu; EN - author: Razvan-Adrian Pandea, editor: Simona Iacob)