December 10 (SeeNews) - Moldova's unemployment rate was 5.1% in the third quarter, up from 4.2% in the second quarter, the country's statistics bureau said on Monday.
The jobless rate in the third quarter of 2006 was 5.4%.
The number of unemployed in the country of four million people was more than 70,000 at the end of September, up from 58,000 at end of June, the statistics bureau said in a statement.
The workforce of the ex-Soviet, mostly agricultural, country fell to 1.364 million in the third quarter from 1.384 million in the second quarter.
In the third quarter the unemployment rate among men was 6.2% and among women it was 4.0%. The statistics bureau also said that at 7.6% the jobless rate in the third quarter was higher in urban areas than in the rural areas where it was 3.2%.
The low unemployment rate in one of the poorest European countries is a result of the large number of Moldovans working abroad. Italy and Russia are the most popular destinations for Moldovan workers, who find employment mainly in construction and housekeeping.