Figures released by the National Institute for Statistics showed that the Romanian unemployment rate, according to the International Labor Organization, went up to 7.2% in the third quarter of 2011, up by 0.3% from July to September 2010 quarter, while the employment rate of the people aged between 15 and 64 stood at 59.1%, down by 1.1% YoY.

The ILO joblessness rate reached its highest level at 24.1% among the 15 to 24 year-olds. There were as many as 9.949 million working age Romanians in the third quarter, 9.231 million of whom were employed and 718,000 were ILO jobless, i.e. people aged between 15 and 74 who simultaneously meet three requirements: they do not have a job, they are available to start working in the next two weeks and have been actively seeking a job anytime over the last four weeks.

The source of the INS figures is the Statistic Research of the Labor in Households, which is conducted on a quarterly basis in line with the Regulation of the European Council and Parliament No 577/1998 relating the organization of selective statistic inquiry into the workforce in the European Community.

(Sourced from www.actmedia.eu)