Romania's unemployment rate was standing at 2.69% at the end of December, 2021, down 0.03 percentage points from the previous month and 0.69 percentage points from December 2020, the National Employment Agency (ANOFM) reported on Monday.
The total number of the unemployed at the end of December 2021 was 234,757 people, by 3,130 less than at the end of the previous month, Agerpres.ro informs.
Out of the total registered unemployed, 59,651 were drawing unemployment benefits and 175,106 were not. The number of the unemployed on unemployment benefits increased by 2,994 persons, and the number of the unemployed persons not on unemployment benefits decreased by 6,124 persons, both on a monthly basis.
By area of residence, 71,404 unemployed were in urban areas and 163,353 in the countryside, as of end-December 2021.
Most of the unemployed were between 40 and 49 years old (61,064), followed by those between 50 and 55 years old (48,900), while people between 25 and 29 years old reported the fewest unemployment instances (12,416).
Regarding unemployment by educational attainment, the unemployed without formal education and those with primary school education held a significant share in the total number of the unemployed registered with ANOFM (28.82%). Unemployed people with a secondary educational attainment made up 30.39% of the total, and university graduates 5.16%.