Important economic sectors faced a downturn in activity in February: the food industry against the backdrop of deficient internal demand, and the metallurgical industry sector as an effect of the fact that plants continued to operate at low capacity, HotNews.ro informs. The outlook for the upcoming period is pessimistic, the confidence index calculated by DG ECFIN for the March – May period dropping to -3.4 points (1.7 points lower month-on-month), adverse influences being exercised by the overhauls scheduled at important oil processing and chemical industry companies, a National Bank report shows. In February the unemployment rate stagnated around 5.8 per cent, against the backdrop of uneven developments at the level of age groups.
Thus, the only category that registered drops in the number of unemployed persons was the 18-25 age group, possibly as a result of the fact that the unemployment benefits period for high school graduates that failed to pass the baccalaureate exam in 2012 expired so they were no longer taken into account in the statistics. In what concerns the incomes, the net nominal salary’s annual growth rhythm remained at 5.5 per cent, the drops registered in the agriculture and services sector being counterbalanced by the slight growth registered in the industrial sector. The effect of the 7.1 per cent hike in the minimum salary was marginal given the low share that this category of employees have.
