According to data from March-May 2017, the number of private sector jobs increased by 108 thousand year-on-year, while the number of people employed under the public work scheme and of people working abroad declined by 22 thousand and 8 thousand, respectively, year-on-year. The number of jobless people fell by 48 thousand, to 203 thousand, thus the unemployment rate edged down to 4.4 percent as a result of a 59-month downward trend.

The number of people in employment averaged, according to the latest data, 4 million 393 thousand in the observed period, up by 79 thousand year-on-year. Accordingly, the employment rate of those aged 15-64 years rose to 67.6 percent.  Over the past seven years, the number of people in employment rose by some 700 thousand, of which some half a million were employed by the private sector. In this period, the unemployment rate has fallen by more than fifty percent. The unemployment rate in the age group of 15-24 years declined by 3 percentage points to 10.8 percent, well below the respective EU average. 

The Job Protection Action, the Youth Guarantee Programme and the Government’s incentives for jobseekers under the age of 25 years have played a major role in these positive trends. The Government-initiated six-year wage agreement and tax reduction package are expected to add more momentum to job growth, partly by activating potential jobseekers and by moderating labour outflow.

(MTI, Ministry for National Economy)