Unemployment rate reaches 8.1%. Private sector laid off 4.5 times more than public sector

Mehedinti – 14,5% (south-west), Vaslui 13,5% (east), Alba – 13,4% (central-west) are the Romanian counties with the highest unemployment rate, while Bucuresti (2,4%), Ilfov -2,6% (south) and Timis – 4,4% (west) record the lowest rate, a Romanian National Employment Agency (ANOFM) communiqué shows.

The total number of recorder unemployment in Romania counts above 740,000 people. The unemployment rate has gone over 8.1%, level compatible only with the 2003 figures, when the unemployment read 8.6%.

In January 2010 there were 31.599 more laid off (740,982 people) than in December 2009. According to the ANOFM communiqué, out of the 740,000 people made redundant, 605,371 were recorded in the private sector. This means that the private sector sacked 4.5 times more people than the state sector.

According to IMF officials’ estimates, the unemployment rate might go up this year to 10% in Romania. They believe it will drop in the second half of the year, once the economic activities will restart.