Employment and unemployment (provisional estimates) - December 2023

In December 2023 the number of both employed and inactive people rose, while unemployed persons fell.

On a monthly basis, the increase in employment (+0.1%, +14 thousand) concerned men and people aged 35 and over, while employment fell among women and the youngest. Overall, the employment rate grew to 61.9% (+0.1 p.p.).

In the last month, the drop in the number of unemployed persons (-2.7%, -50 thousand) involved both sexes and all age groups, with the exception of the 15-24 age group. The unemployment rate decreased to 7.2% (-0.2 p.p.), the youth rate to 20.1% (-0.4 p.p.).

In December, the rise in the number of inactive people aged 15 to 64 (+0.2%, +19 thousand) concerned women and people aged 35 and over. The inactivity rate grew to 33.2% (+0.1 p.p.).

In the period October-December 2023, with respect to the previous quarter (July-September 2023), employment increased (+0.6%, +135 thousand).

On a quarterly basis, a drop was registered for unemployed persons (-1.6%, -30 thousand) as for inactive people aged 15-64 years (-0.8%, -99 thousand).

Compared with December 2022, the number of employed persons rose by 2.0% (+456 thousand), the growth concerned both genders and all age groups except 35-49 years; the employment rate showed an increase of 1.2 p.p. .

On a yearly basis, the rise of employed people was accompanied by a fall of both unemployed people (-8.5%, -171 thousand) and inactive persons aged 15-64 (-2.5%, -310 thousand).