Unemployment continued to decline in August, the National Employment Agency announced.

At the end of August, there were 261,525 unemployed registered in labour bureaus. Compared to July, there was a decrease of 6,575 persons. On an annual basis, compared to August 2015, the number of unemployed was significantly lower – a decrease of 45,296.

In August, the unemployment rate reached 8%. There was a decrease of 0.2%, compared to July, 2016 and of 1.3%, compared to August, 2015.

A total of 18,934 job openings have been registered in labour bureaus. The private sector has announced 10,166 or 54% of the total.

In August, the share of job openings for professionals grew by 16 percentage points compared to July, at the expense of decline in the share of jobs without qualification requirements.