Unemployment goes up in Romania despite more available jobs

The unemployment rate reached 6.6% in the last quarter of 2015, up from 6.5% in the previous three months. The highest unemployment rate, of about 21.7%, was recorded among young people aged 15-24, according to the National Statistics Institute (INS). The unemployment rate amounted to 7.2% for men compared to 5.9% among women, during this period. In the rural areas, the rate totaled 6.8% whereas the unemployment rate reached 6.5% in cities. The employment rate of the active people, aged 15-64, amounted to 61.4% in the last quarter of 2015. The occupancy rate among people aged 20-64 reached 66.1%, 3.9 percentage points lower than the 70% national target for 2020. Meanwhile, the annual number of vacant jobs totaled 50,000 last year, up by 11,500 over 2014. The manufacturing industry had over 27% of them. editor@romania-insider.com