ANOFM: Romania's unemployment rate, down 2.9pct in June

The national unemployment rate in June stood at 2.9 pct, 0.54 percentage points below the figure recorded in the same month of 2018, according to data from the National Employment Agency (ANOFM), published on Wednesday. 

However, the percentage reported in June was 0.03 percentage points higher than in May 2019. 

ANOFM data show that the total number of unemployed registered at the end of June, of 257,583 persons, was by 2,952 higher compared to the figure registered at end of the previous month. Of the total number of unemployed persons, 45,464 were drawing unemployment benefits and 212,119 were not. 

Moreover, compared to the previous month, the male unemployment rate inched up from 2.94 pct to 2.95 pct and the female unemployment rate increased from 2.89 pct to 2.96 pct. 

By residency, there were 77,349 unemployed in urban areas, while 180,234 unemployed people were from rural areas. 

According to the cited source, most unemployed were in the 40 - 49 age bracket (72,729), followed by those aged over 55 (51,545), at the other end being those in the 25 - 29 age bracket (13,314). 

By education level, the unemployed without education and those with primary education accounted for the highest share of the total number of ANOFM-registered unemployed (30.62 pct). At the same time, the unemployed with completed secondary school accounted for 30.32 pct of the total, and those with university studies represented 4.95 pct.