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Belstat has published the results of a household sample survey conducted to study employment issues in the first quarter of 2026. The survey calculates the unemployment rate according to the methodology of the International Labour Organization.
In the first quarter, the employment rate among people aged 15–74 stood at 68.1%, while the unemployment rate was 2.3% of the labour force. By comparison, in the fourth quarter of 2025 and on average for last year, the unemployment rate under the ILO methodology was 2.5%.
The unemployment rate among women was 1.9% (-0.4 percentage points compared with the fourth quarter of 2025), while among men it was 2.8% (unchanged).
In urban areas, the unemployment rate was 2.5% (+0.1 percentage points), while in rural areas it was 1.8% (-0.8 percentage points).
The employment rate among the working-age population stood at 84.4% (-1.3 percentage points), including 84.6% (-1.6 percentage points) among women and 84.2% (-1.1 percentage points) among men, 84.4% (-0.9 percentage points) in rural areas and 84.4% (-1.4 percentage points) in urban areas.
Some 69.9% of respondents searched for jobs via the internet or through the media, while 55.7% turned to relatives and friends. Another 19.2% contacted employment services or used the national vacancy database, and 9.7% applied directly to organisations.