The economy is growing, but employment was declining January-March 2025

2025-06-25 18:09:00, Sociale CNA

The employment rate declined in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period a year earlier, due to the sharp decline in employment in the agricultural sector.

According to INSTAT data, the employment rate for the population aged 15 and over was 58.3%. The number of employed people for the population aged 15 and over, from the first quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2025, decreased by 0.8%.

In annual terms, employment decreased by 9.3% in the agricultural sector, while it increased by 0.1% in the industrial sector and by 6.4% in the services sector.

Compared to the previous quarter, in the first quarter of 2025, employment for the population aged 15 and over increased by 0.3%. Employment decreased by 2.7% in the agricultural sector and by 0.8% in the industrial sector, while it increased by 3.3% in the services sector.

The official employment rate for the population aged 15–64 is 69.5%. Compared to the same quarter a year ago, this rate has increased by 1.2 percentage points, and compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, the increase is 1.1 percentage points.

The official unemployment rate for the population aged 15 and over is 8.7%. This indicator has decreased by 0.1 percentage points both in the first quarter of 2024 and in the previous quarter. The labor force participation rate, for the population aged 15–64, is 76.7% in the first quarter of 2025.

This indicator has increased by 1.2 percentage points compared to both the first quarter of 2024 and the fourth quarter of 2024.

For women, the labor force participation rate is 70.9%, while for men this indicator is 82.8%.

For men, the labor force participation rate is 12.0 percentage points higher than for women. Compared to the same quarter of 2024, the labor force participation rate for women has increased by 1.5 percentage points, and for men by 0.9 percentage points.

During the first quarter of 2025, the labor force participation rate for young people aged 15-29 is 54.5%.

This indicator decreased by 0.5 percentage points compared to the first quarter of 2024, while it increased by 0.9 percentage points compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. For the population aged 30-64, in the first quarter of 2025, the labor force participation rate is 85.0%.

The employment rate for men aged 15-64 is 75.8%, while for women it is 63.3%. Compared to the same quarter of 2024, the employment rate has increased for men by 1.4 percentage points and for women by 1.0 percentage points.

In the first quarter of 2025, the youth employment rate is 44.8%. Compared to the first quarter of 2024, the youth employment rate has increased by 0.9 percentage points and compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, it has increased by 1.4 percentage points. For the population aged 30-64, in the first quarter of 2025, the employment rate is 78.6%.

In the first quarter of 2025, the official unemployment rate is 7.6% for men and 9.8% for women. Compared to the same quarter of 2024, the unemployment rate has increased by 0.4 percentage points for women, while it has decreased by 0.6 percentage points for men.

The unemployment rate for young people aged 15–29 is 17.9%. Compared to the first quarter of 2024, this indicator has decreased by 2.4 percentage points, and compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, it has decreased by 1.3 percentage points.

For the 30–64 age group, the unemployment rate is 7.5%. In annual terms, this indicator has increased by 0.4 percentage points, and compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, it has increased by 0.3 percentage points.

Economically inactive population In the first quarter of 2025, 17.2% of the economically inactive population of working age (15–64 years) is engaged in fulfilling household duties, 12.3% is retired or early retired, while 15.2% is permanently disabled for work.

Also, 2.5% of the economically inactive population in this age group declare that they are not looking for work because they believe that there are no jobs available, and are therefore classified as discouraged unemployed.

Young people aged 15-29 who declared that they are pupils/students or in training constitute 72.7% of economically inactive young people. Among economically inactive young people aged 15-29, 1.1% are classified as discouraged unemployed.

In the population aged 30-64, this group constitutes 15.0% of the economically inactive population of this age group./ Monitor Magazine