The unemployment rate has decreased by 0.4 point between the first quarter of 2021 and the same period in 2022, going down from 12.5% to 12.1%, according to the High Planning Commission (HCP).
This rate has posted a decline in both rural and urban areas, going down from 5.3% to 5.1% and from 17.1% to 16.3% respectively, the HCP said in its note on the labor market situation in Q1-2022.
According to the document, the number of unemployed people has decreased by 68,000 in Q1-2021 through Q1-2022, dropping from 1,534,000 to 1,466,000 unemployed (-52,000 people in urban areas and -16,000 in rural areas).
The unemployment rate also dropped by 0.2 percentage points among women reaching 17.3%, while it rose among young people aged 15 to 24 by 0.9 points (33.4%).
Among graduates, the unemployment rate fell by 0.9 points reaching 18.9%. The unemployment rate among higher education graduates increased by 0.5 point reaching 26.7%.
The unemployment rate for mid-level graduates went down from 16.1% to 14.4%. The decline was more significant among graduates with professional qualifications (-2.6 points to 22.3%), the HCP explained.
During the same period, underemployment amounted to 987,000 people (521,000 in the cities and 466,000 in the countryside). The underemployment rate at the national level remained the same as in the first quarter of 2021 (9.2%).
The underemployment rate increased from 10.2% to 10.5% among men and decreased from 5.6% to 4.8% among women.
In urban areas, the rate is 8.6% for men and 6.9% for women. In rural areas, it is almost six times higher among men (13.3%) than among women (2.2%), the HCP concluded.
