June 2 (SeeNews) - Moldova's unemployment rate rose to 5.5% in the first quarter of 2023 from 3% in the prior-year period, the country's statistical office said.
The number of unemployed in the country of 2.6 million people was 50,800 at the end of March, jumping from 25,700 at the end of the first quarter last year, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, said in a statement on Wednesday.
The jobless rate was 10.3% among people aged between 15 and 24, equal to the value recorded a year earlier, and 5.5% among people aged between 20 and 64, up from 3.1% in the first three months of 2022.
Moldova’s workforce rose to 865,300 in the first quarter, from 828,500 in the same quarter of 2022. Of the country’s workforce, 50.9% were men and 49.1% were women.
The unemployment rate among men in Moldova was 6.2% versus 4.9% among women.
The statistics bureau also said the jobless rate reached 4.9 % in urban areas, compared to 6.2% in rural areas.
Moldova’s unemployment rate inched down to 3.1% in 2022 from 3.2% a year earlier.