The number of job seekers rose 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2003, the government Employment Service announced Monday.
The average monthly number of job seekers who came to Employement Service offices throughout the country from January through April of this year was 194,900, as compared to 183,200 in the last quarter of 2002. About 60 percent of all new job seekers had been laid off.
The rise in the number of job seekers in the first quarter comes after several months in which this number declined. The upward trend began in December 2002 and expectations in the Employment Service are that this will continue and even grow rose this year due to the extension in the period job seekers receive professional training, the shorter period of time during which the jobless are eligible for unemployment benefits and the continuing economic recession.
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6.4% increase in Job seekers in one quarter seems like a lot to me, but to give proportion to the numbers, how does this compare with the US or Europe? or let's say Latin America?
Also, I know that this numbers only show those actively seeking jobs and may have no relation to a rise in unemployment (non-seeking unemployed could switch to job-seeking unemployed and it will show up as an increase in job seekers).