Romanian unemployment figure hits five years' high

The unemployment rate recorded in Romania in October 2009 was 7.1%, in comparison with 6.9%, the figure for September and in contrast with 4.0% for the same month last year, according to the data published by the Romanian National Employment Agency. The unemployment figure increased in October for the 16th month in a row. Such a high number of jobless has not been seen in Romania since April 2004, when 661,895 people were looking for work.

The total number of persons without a job currently recorded with county work force agencies counts 653,939 people, out of which 288,556 are women.

The jobless number increased by 28,779 in October against the previous month, reaching the highest level in the last five years and a half and taking the unemployment level to 7.1%. The highest local unemployment percentage is in Mehedinti (South) -13.2%, followed by Vaslui (East) -12.4%, while the lowest unemployment rate is in Bucharest and Ilfov (South-East) -2.1%.

Out of the total number of unemployed, 374,209 receive benefits, while 279, 730 don’t. The level for the unemployment in women went up to 6.8%, from the 6.5%, the percentage in September.