In the second quarter of 2009, unemployed people (aged between 15 and 64) totalled 222,600, including 117,300 men and 105,200 women. The unemployment coefficient was 6.3 per cent, 0.5 percentage points up from the second quarter of 2008, the National Statistical Institute said on Friday.

The unemployment coefficients for gender were not very different, standing, respectively, at 6.3 per cent for men and 6.4 per cent for women. Over the period in review, the unemployment coefficient for men increased by 0.7 percentage points, and for women by 0.4 percentage points. The difference in the level of unemployment according to place of residence remained significant. In rural areas the unemployment coefficient was 9 per cent, which is 3.5 percentage points more than in urban areas (5.5 per cent).

Unemployed young people (aged 15 to 24) totalled 42,300. The coefficient of youth unemployment was 14.6 per cent. It was 16.5 per cent for men and 12.0 per cent for women.

The number of people who have been unemployed for less than a year increased 20.3 per cent from the second quarter of 2008, reaching 122,900 in the second quarter of 2009. Long-term unemployed people (for one year or more) totalled 99,700, or 44.8 per cent of all unemployed persons. The coefficient of long-term unemployment preserved its level of the like period in 2008, at 2.9 per cent.

In the second quarter of 2009, the economically active population aged 15 to 64 totalled 3,470,400, or 67.6 per cent of the population in that age group. Compared to the second quarter of 2008, the level of economic activity of the population registered an insignificant decline of 0.3 percentage points. The coefficients of economic activity were 72.3 per cent for men and 63.0 per cent for women.

The coefficient of employment of the population aged 15 to 64 in the second quarter of 2009 decreased by 0.6 percentage points compared to the like period in 2008, and stood at 63.3 per cent.

The decrease in employment with men and women is almost the same, with employment coefficients standing at 67.7 per cent for men and 59.0 per cent for women.

Discouraged people aged 15 to 64, who do not believe that they can find a job and are not seeking a job actively, totalled 171,000, or 10.3 per cent of the economically inactive in that age group. Compared to the second quarter of 2008, they increased by 19,000.

In the second quarter of 2009 the total number of employed people aged 15 or over was 3,300,100, and their percentage of the population in that age group was 50.1 per cent. Compared to the like period in 2008, their number decreased 2.1 per cent, and their percentage decreased by 0.9 points.

Independently employed people or unpaid family workers totalled 418,800, or 12.7 per cent of working people, and 2,881,300 people, or 87.3 per cent, were employed people. Of the employed, 2,094,500 (72.7 per cent) worked in the private sector, and 786,800 (27.3 per cent) in the public-financed sector. The share of women in private sector employees was 45.2 per cent, and in public-financed sector employees 57.0 per cent.

A total of 1,883,800 people, or 57.1 per cent of all employed people, worked in the services sector, 1,171,400 (35.5 per cent) in industry, and 244,800 (7.4 per cent) in agriculture and forestry.

Source: BTA