Employment and unemployment (provisional estimates)

In January 2019, the number of employed people moderately grew compared with December (+0.1%, +21 thousand); the employment rate was stable at 58.7%. The male employment increased while the female slight decreased.

In January, the number of unemployed people rose by 0.6% (+15 thousand); the increase involved mainly men and persons aged over 35. The unemployment rate was steady at 10.5%, while the youth rate increased to 33.0% (+0.3 percentage points).

In January, inactive people aged 15-64 declined (-0.2%, -22 thousand); the decrease involved only men and people aged 25-49 years. The inactivity rate was stable to 34.3% for the third consecutive month.

In the period from November 2018 to January 2019, employment slightly declined compared with the previous quarter (-0.1%, -19 thousand). The decrease involved men and people aged 15-49 years.

In the last three months, the drop of employment was accompanied by the increase of unemployment (+1.3%, +35 thousand) while the inactivity fell down (-0.4%, -53 thousand).

Employment rose by 0.7% (+160 thousand) compared with January 2018. The increase concerned men and women involving only people aged over 50 (+250 thousand).

On a yearly basis, the growth of employment was accompanied by the fall of unemployment (-5.0%, -144 thousand) and inactivity (-1.0%, -129 thousand).