According to the Employment Service Statistics, at the end of March the number of unemployed jobseekers registered at Employment and Economic Development Offices totalled 251,400, up 51,700 on the previous year. Compared with February, the number of unemployed jobseekers increased by 1,400.

Unemployment increased from the previous year in the areas of all Employment and Economic Development Centres. Compared with March a year ago, unemployment among men increased by 44,900 (41%) and among women by 6,700 (7%).

In March, 35,200 of the unemployed were individually laid-off, which is 3,500 more than in February. Since March a year ago, the number of individual lay-offs has increased by 26,200.

The number of new vacancies reported to Employment and Economic Development Offices during March totalled 45,300, or 7,800 less than March in the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies at Employment and Economic Development Offices amounted to 89,400 in March, which is 28,800 less than a year ago.

The number of foreign citizens among unemployed jobseekers totalled 14,100, up 2,500 from March a year ago. Of these foreign unemployed jobseekers, EU/EEA citizens accounted for 3,200 at the end of March, up 1,000 from the year before.