Unemployment 7.1% in October, highest level in past 5.5 years

Although the authorities estimated early this year that 620,000 people would find themselves out of a job at the end of 2009, which would have meant a 6.8 percent unemployment rate, this forecast was surpassed as early as September. Following discussions with the representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the authorities forecast a figure of 685,000 unemployed, which corresponded to a 7.6 percent jobless rate. The chief of IMF’s mission in Romania, Jeffrey Franks, said, after the October review, that the unemployment rate would reach 10 percent in the first part of next year.

On the other hand, employers notified ANOFM that they will lay off some 15,000 employees in the coming months, most of them, 14,500, in the final two months of this year.