The unemployment rate in Romania stood at 8.1% in the first quarter of 2010, following a rate of 7.5% in the previous quarter and of 6.9% in Q1 2009, according to data delivered by the National Statistics Institute on Tuesday.

In Q1 2010, the active population in Romania numbered 9.72 people, of whom 8.83 million were employed and 787,000 had no job.

According to the most recent statistics, unemployment in urban areas stood at 9.9% and that in rural areas at 5.8%.