In the third quarter of 2009 the number of unemployed persons was 234,500, including 127,000 men and 107,500 women, National Statistical Institute data showed on Monday. The unemployment rate was 6.7 per cent, a rise of 1.6 percentage points compared to the third quarter of 2008.

The unemployment rate by gender did not disagree considerably and was 6.8 per cent for men and 6.5 per cent for women. Over the period in question, unemployment went up for both men and women - by 1.8 and 1.2 percentage points respectively.

The difference between the unemployment rates by place of residence remained significant. In the rural areas the unemployment rate was 9.7 per cent, by 4.0 percentage points higher than that in the urban areas (5.7 per cent).

The number of unemployed aged 15 - 24 was 48,100. Youth unemployment rate was 16.5 per cent, 16.9 per cent for men and 15.9 per cent for women respectively.

The number of unemployed with duration of the unemployment less than a year increased by 54.9 per cent compared to the third quarter of 2008 and reached 135,800 thousand in the third quarter of 2009, while the number of long-term unemployed (i.e. unemployed for 12 months or over) for the period concerned remained almost the same.

The number of long-term unemployed was 98,700 thousand, which is 42.1 per cent of all unemployed. The long-term unemployment rate was 2.8 per cent.