Employment and unemployment (monthly)

After the stability observed in April, in May 2019 the estimate of employed people increased compared with the previous month (+0.3%, +67 thousand); even the employment rate rose at 59.0% (+0.1 percentage points).

The increase of employment involved men (+66 thousand), while women remained stable. The growth is the result of stability between the 15-24 years olds, decrease for the 35-49 years old (-34 thousand) and increase in other age groups, mainly among the over 50 (+88 thousand).

The number of unemployed persons decreased by 1.9% (-51 thousand); the reduction involved both men and women, and all age groups, with the exception of people aged 35-49. The unemployment rate dropped to 9.9% (-0.2 percentage points), the youth rate decreased to 30.5% (-0.7 percentage points).

In May, inactive people aged 15-64 stayed substantially stable, as the result of decrease among men ( 29 thousand) and increase for women (+33 thousand). The inactivity rate was unchanged at 34.3% for the fourth consecutive month.

In the period from March to May 2019, employment rose compared with the previous quarter (+0.5%, +125 thousand), even by gender.

In the last three months, the rise of employment was accompanied by the drop of unemployed persons (-3.7%, -100 thousand) and inactive people aged 15-64 years (-0.3%, -37 thousand).

Compared with May 2018, employment increased by 0.4% (+92 thousand). The growth concerned men and women, young people aged 15-24 years (+43 thousand) and mainly persons over 50 (+300 thousand), while central age groups declined.

On a yearly basis, the rise of employment was accompanied by the fall of unemployed persons ( 6.9%, 192 thousand) and the substantial stability of inactive people aged 15-64.