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TIRANA, March 10 (Xinhua) -- The official unemployment rate in Albania for the population aged over 15 hit a new low in the fourth quarter of 2016, down to 14.2 percent, the institute of statistics (INSTAT) said Friday.
Official statistics showed that unemployment rate decreased by 3.1 percentage points, compared to the fourth quarter of 2015, while compared to the third quarter 2016, it decreased by 0.5 percentage points
Meanwhile, INSTAT said that the labour force participation rate for the population aged from 15 to 64 was 65.7 percent, marking a 0.4 percentage points annual growth.
While compared with the previous quarter, this indicator decreased by 1.6 percentage points.
Finance Minister Arben Ahmetaj said it was a result of the reforms undertaken by the government.
Further reduction in unemployment is good news for citizens and the economy. In one year, unemployment was significantly reduced from 17.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015 to 14.2 percent at the end of 2016. This showed that reforms are working and yielding concrete results, said Ahmetaj in a press release.
He noted that the government would continue to implement policies promoting employment. Enditem
