A third of Romanians work in agriculture

Despite intense investments in the industry and services sectors Romania remains a mostly agrarian country, according to the latest data from the National Statistics Institute-INS. It shows some 31% of all labor force in Romania works in the agricultural sector.

But the data shows the number of Romanian citizens working in agriculture decreased by 2.2% in the third quarter of 2006, compared to the same period in 2005, while the number of workers in construction works and industry grew by 8.1%, while the growth reported for the services sector stood at 8.3%.

The INS says that in Q3 last year the activity rate of working-age population (15-64) grew to 65.8%, the highest in the past five years.

The unemployment rate reached 7% during the period, lower than in the previous quarter but 0.9% up from the Q3 2005 rate.