Employment and unemployment (provisional estimates)

After the substantial increase recorded in March, in April 2019 the estimate of employment remained unchanged compared to the previous month; as well as the employment rate, stable at 58.8%. The stability of employment is the result of a decrease between the 15-34 year olds (-52 thousand) and an increase in other age groups, mainly concentrated among the over-50s (+46 thousand).

The number of unemployed persons slightly rose by 0,2% (+5 thousand); the growth involved women and the 15-24 year olds. The unemployment rate remained steady at 10.2%, the youth rate grew to 31.4% (+0.8 percentage points).

In April, inactive people aged 15-64 stayed substantially stable, there is an increase among people aged 15-34 and a decrease for the over-35s. The inactivity rate was unchanged at 34.3% for the third consecutive month.

In the period from February to April 2019, employment rose compared with the previous quarter (+0.3%, +72 thousand), even by gender.

In the last three months, the rise of employment was accompanied by the drop of unemployed persons (-1.7%,-46 thousand) and inactive people aged 15-64 years (-0.3%, -46 thousand).

Compared with April 2018, employment increased by 0.2% (+56 thousand). The growth concerned women, young people aged 15-24 years (+39 thousand) and over 50 (+232 thousand).

On a yearly basis, the rise of employment was accompanied by the fall of unemployed persons (-7.1%, -203 thousand) and the slight increase of inactive people aged 15-64 (+0.1%, +17 thousand).