Employment and unemployment (provisional estimates)

In March 2021 the number of employed persons increased, while a decline was recorded for both inactive and unemployed people.

On a monthly basis, the growth of employment (+0.2%, +34 thousand) was the effect of a decline for women and 35-49 years old people and a rise among men and other age classes. Overall, the employment rate went up to 56.6% (+0.1 p.p.).

In the last month, the drop of unemployed people (-0.8%, -19 thousand) involved men and over25; for women and people aged 15-24 an increase was registered. The unemployment rate declined to 10.1% (-0.1 p.p.) whereas the youth rate rose to 33.0% (+1.1 p.p.).

In March the decrease of inactive people aged 15-64 (-0.3%, -40 thousand) concerned more men (-0.6%, -33 thousand) than women (-0.1%, -7 thousand). The inactivity rate went down to 36.8% (-0.1 p.p.).

In the first quarter of 2021, with respect to the previous one, employment dropped (-1.1%, -254 thousand) for both genders.

In the last three months, an increase was registered in the number of unemployed persons (+2.4%, +59 thousand) as well as for inactive people aged 15-64 years (+1.0%, +134 thousand).

Compared to March 2020, employment showed a fall both in terms of figures (-2.5%, -565 thousand) and rate (-1.1 percentage points).

On a yearly basis, the drop of employed people was accompanied by a sharp rise of unemployed persons (+35.4%, +652 thousand) and a substantial decrease of inactive people aged 15-64 (-2.1%, -306 thousand).