Employment and unemployment (provisional estimates)

In December 2018, the number of employed people moderately grew compared with November (+0.1%, +23 thousand); the employment rate rose at 58.8% (+0.1 percentage points in a month). The female employment increased while the male decreased.

In December, the number of unemployed people continued to go down (-1.6%, -44 thousand); the decline involved mainly men and persons aged over 35. The unemployment rate dropped to 10.3% (-0.2 percentage points in a month) while the youth rate slight increased to 31.9% (+0.1 percentage points).

In December, inactive people aged 15-64 moderately declined (-0.1%, -16 thousand); the decrease involved women and all age groups, except persons aged 25-34 which rose by +28 thousands. The inactivity rate was stable to 34.3%.

In the fourth quarter 2018 employment slightly rose compared with the previous quarter (+0.1%, +12 thousand). The increase involved men and people in the extreme age groups (15-24 and over 50).

In the same quarter, the rise of employment was accompanied by the increase of unemployment (+2.4%, +63 thousand) while the inactivity fell down (-0.8%, -100 thousand).

Employment rose by 0.9% (+202 thousand) compared with December 2017. The increase concerned men and women and people aged 15-24 (+36 thousand) and over 50 (+300 thousand), while employment decreased among people aged 25-49 (-135 thousand).

On a yearly basis, the growth of employment was accompanied by the fall of unemployment (-4.8%, -137 thousand) and inactivity (-1.5%, -197 thousand).