The unemployment rate for the 4th quarter of 2015 was 12.2%. This value is up 0.3 percentage points (p.p.) from the previous quarter and down 1.3 p.p. from the same quarter of 2014.
The unemployed population was estimated at 633.9 thousand people, corresponding to a quarterly increase of 2.4% (more 15.1 thousand people) and to a year-on-year decrease of 9.2% (less 64.4 thousand people).
The employed population was estimated at 4,561.5 thousand people, having recorded a quarterly decrease of 0.3% (less 13.8 thousand people) and a year-on-year increase of 1.6% (more 69.9 thousand people).
The participation rate of the working age population stood at 58.6%, an identical value to the one observed in the previous quarter and up 0.1 p.p. from the same quarter of 2014.
In terms of the annual average, the unemployment rate was 12.4% in 2015, recording a decrease of 1.5 p.p. from 2014. There were 646.5 thousand unemployed people, down 11.0% from the previous year (less 79.5 thousand people). The employed population, estimated to be 4,548.7 thousand people, recorded an annual increase of 1.1% (more 49.2 thousand people).