Unemployment rate holds steady in Romania in July

Romania’s unemployment figures held steady in July this year, according to the latest figures of the Nationals Statistics Office (INS). The unemployment rate was of 7.5 percent in July, the same as the level recorded in the previous month, according to the seasonally adjusted figures. Compared to the same month in 2012, the unemployment in Romania went up 0.5 percentage points. The estimated number of unemployed people, aged 15 to 74, amounted to 739,000 in July 2013, down from 746,000 the month before, but up year-on-year. The number of unemployed people aged between 25 and 74 represented 75.3 percent of the total, according to INS. By gender, the unemployment rate for men was with 1.7 percent higher than in the case of women. Romanian president Traian Basescu recently criticized the country’s Government for the increasing unemployment in the country. “The unemployment is rising, Romanians are more concerned about their job situation and many of them are wondering whether they are going to lose their jobs. When this government took over the mandate, the unemployment in Romania, according to ESA, was 6.7 percent. In June, also according to ESA, the unemployment reached 7.6 percent in Romania,” said Traian Basescu, quoted by local news agency Mediafax. Basescu is known to be a keen critic of Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta, and the relationship between the two is famously not a good one, but rather one meant to keep up appearances and stabilize the political scene. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (photo source: Sxc.hu)