Unemployment slightly down in April, increase expected ahead

The unemployment rate in Romania slightly dropped in April this year, from an 8.36 percent rate in March, to 8.07 percent, according to the National Agency for Workforce Occupancy (ANOFM). There were 738,000 jobless people in Romania in April this year, down 27,000 people compared to March. This is the first drop in the jobless rate in the last 20 months. The highest unemployment rate was in Vaslui, of 14.09 percent, followed by Mehedinti, with a jobless rate of 13.47 percent. The lowest unemployment rate was recorded in Bucharest, of 2.54 percent. The unemployment rate might increase in the coming period given the expected layoffs of budget-paid employees. Around 250,000 employees from the public sector should be axed in the coming period, according to the IMF.