The number of economically active people in Moldova has decreased. The share of the working population fell from 96.4% in the third quarter of last year to 94.3% in the third quarter of this year. But the share of the jobless persons rose from 3.6% to 5.78%, Info-Prim Neo has learned from the National Bureau of Statistics. The Bureau said that 32.5% of the people working in the national economy were employed in the agricultural sector. Compared with the third quarter of 2008, the number of persons working in agriculture fell by about 41,000 or 9.1%. This means that one persons of 11 abandoned work in agriculture. 45% of the persons employed in the agricultural sector worked at their own farms. The number of persons involved in non-agricultural works was 844,000, down 18,800 or 2.2% compared with the same period 2008. The share of persons working in industry decreased from 12.6% to 12.3%, in constructions – from 6.9% to 6.8%, in the service sector – by 2,500. 69.7% of the population worked in private companies, 25.6% - in public companies, while 4.7% - in joint, private and public companies with foreign capital The number of the unemployed persons calculated according to the methodology of the International Labor Office was about 76,200, up 27,500 from the third quarter of last year. 65.4% of the unemployed were men, while 58.6% were persons from urban areas. The rate of unemployment was 5.7%, up 3.6% from 2008. The jobless rate in urban areas was 7.5%, while in rural areas – 4.3%. Among young persons aged between 15 and 24, the rate was 16.5%, while among persons aged between 15 and 29 – 12.8%.