Employment and unemployment (provisional estimates)

In March 2019, the number of employed people increased compared with February (+0.3%, +60 thousand); the employment rate rose to 58.9% (+0.2 percentage points). The increase of employment involved men and women and people aged 15-34 years (+69 thousand); rather stable the 35-49 years, while over 50 declined (-14 thousand).

The number of unemployed persons fell by 3.5% (-96 thousand); the decline involved men and women and all age classes. The unemployment rate dropped to 10.2% (-0.4 percentage points), the youth rate decreased to 30.2% (-1.6 percentage points).

In March, inactive people aged 15-64 remained substantially stable as result of the decrease among people aged 15-34 and the increase for over 35. The inactivity rate was unchanged at 34.3% for the third consecutive month.

In the period from January to March 2019, employment rose compared with the previous quarter (+0.2%, +46 thousand), even by gender.

In the last quarter, the rise of employment was accompanied by the drop of unemployed persons (-1.8%, -50 thousand) and inactive people aged 15-64 years (-0.1%, -18 thousand).

Employment rose by 0.5% (+114 thousand) compared with March 2018. The increase concerned men and women, young people aged 15-24 years (+63 thousand) and over 50 (+210 thousand).

On a yearly basis, the growth of employment was accompanied by the fall of unemployed persons (-7.3%, -208 thousand) and inactive people aged 15-64 (-0.3%, -35 thousand).