site.btaUnemployment Rate at 4.5% in 2021 Q4

Between October and December 2021, there were 146,700 unemployed persons, of whom 84,200 (57.4 per cent) men and 62,500 (42.6 per cent) women, the National Statistical Institute said on Thursday. The unemployment rate was 4.5 per cent, 4.9 per cent for men and 4.2 per cent for women.

Among all unemployed persons 11.5 per cent had attained tertiary education, 56.5 per cent had completed upper secondary education and 32 per cent had lower secondary education. The unemployment rate by level of educational attainment was as follows: 1.6 per cent for tertiary education, 4.7 per cent for upper secondary education and 12.5 per cent for lower education (lower secondary or less).

In the fourth quarter of 2021 the number of persons unemployed for less than a year was 66,000 (45 per cent of all unemployed persons), while that of long-term unemployed persons was 80,800 (55per cent). The long-term unemployment rate was 2.5 per cent, 2.8 per cent and 2.2 per cent for men and women respectively.

Out of all unemployed persons 123,800 (84.4 per cent) had previous job that they left due to dismissal, redundancy or forced closure of the business, completion of seasonal or other temporary work or other reasons, while 22,900 (15.6 per cent) were looking for first job.

The youth unemployment rate (age group 15 - 29) was 9.7 per cent, 9.1 per cent for men and 10.6 per cent for women.

In the fourth quarter of 2021 there were 2, 633,400 economically inactive persons (persons outside the labour force), of whom 1,071,700 (40.7 per cent) men and 1,561,700 (59.3 per cent) women. The economically inactive persons aged15-64 numbered 1,233,200, representing 28.2 per cent of the population in the same age group. Among them over one-third (455,000) were inactive due to participation in education or training. RY/PP