Albanian employment levels remained stable in the third quarter of 2009, according to new figures.

The Albanian Statistics Institute disclosed that in the three-month period to September last year the number of unemployed people reached 1,113,580, which is a 0.2 per cent increase on 2008's figures.

The south-eastern European country's jobless rate reached 12.76 per cent in the same period, which is significantly higher than the average recorded in the European Union.

However, unemployment benefits were distributed to just 9,268 individuals in the third quarter of 2009.

Meanwhile, the Italian Trade Commission has also disclosed that the private agricultural sector employed the greatest proportion of the labor market during this period, the Mediterranean press agency ANSAmed reported.

The Tirana-based organization disclosed that agriculture supported more than 500,000 jobs in the third quarter of 2009.

Last week, Eurostat revealed that unemployment in the 16-member state euro zone reached ten per cent in December.