In the observed period, 62.3 percent of the population aged 15–64 years, i.e. 4 million 218 thousand people were present in the labour market as employed or unemployed, which value was 44 thousand more than in the same period of the previous year. The participation rate for males was 68.2 percent, 0.4 percentage point higher than in period of November 2009–January 2010, and as for females, the 56.6 percentage rate was higher by 0.7 percentage point. The increase in the participation rate occurred along with the growth in the number of both employed and unemployed people. This was due to the fact that more and more inactive people being excluded from the labour market earlier started to search for a job, i.e. they became economically active as unemployed.
The number of employed people in the age-group 15–64 was 3 million 745 thousand on the average, 26 thousand more than a year before and 48 thousand less –primarily because of the seasonally factors– than 3 months before (Augustus–October 2010). The employment rate calculated for this age-group was 55.3 percent, which was higher by 0.3 percentage point than in the same period of the previous year. The number of employed men aged 15–64 years was 2,007 thousand with an employment rate of 60.3 percent, while that of women was 1,737 thousand with a 50.5 percent employment rate.
The number of unemployed people aged 15–74 was 474 thousand, i.e. 18 thousand more than a year before. The unemployment rate of 11.2 percent exceeded by 0.4 percentage point the value of the same period in the previous year, and was 0.3 percentage points higher than 3 months earlier. In this period, the unemployment rate for men was 11.5 percent, while that of women amounted to 10.7 percent. 16.0 percent of unemployed people belonged to the 15–24 age-group being underrepresented in the labour market; the unemployment rate for this age-group was 25.4 percent, 2.4 percentage points lower than in the same period of the previous year. The unemployment rate of persons belonging to the ‘best working age’ – the age-group 25–54 – was 10.4 percent, 0.4 percentage point higher than a year before. 52.9 percent of unemployed people had been searching for a job for one year or more. The average duration of unemployment was 18.7 months, 2.3 months longer than a year before. 1. Change in the unemployment rate and the number of employed males aged 15–74 compared to the same period of the previous year.
