ILO unemployment in Romania down 0.7pp y/y in October

The unemployment rate on Romania, reported under ILO (International Labor Organization) standards and seasonally-adjusted edged up by 0.1 percentage points (pp) to 4.0% in October, but it was 0.7pp lower than one year earlier. The rate has constantly declined since the end of 2015 after it had hovered around 7% over the previous five years. The number of persons declared unemployed under ILO methodology (meaning they are actively seeking employment, as opposed to the registered unemployment measuring the share of those registered with the employment agencies) increased to 370,000 in October from 355,000 in September but it was lower than the 434,000 reading in October 2017. By gender, the ILO unemployment was 1.4pp higher for men (4.6%) than for women (3.2%). By age, the latest data (reported on a quarterly basis), the unemployment among youth (15 to 24 years age bracket) was 16.2% in Q3 after having constantly declined over the past four quarters (from 19.7% in Q4, 2017). For the 25 to 74 years age bracket, the unemployment rate was 3.2% in October down from 3.6% last year. Low unemployment puts Romania among EU’s top 10 editor@romania-insider.com