site.btaUnemployment in Q4 of 2014 Stands at 10.6%

Unemployment in Q4 of 2014 Stands at 10.6%


Sofia, February 16 (BTA) - There were a total of 354,500
unemployed persons in the fourth quarter of 2014, which account
for a 10.6 per cent unemployment rate, said the National
Statistical Institute on Monday. There were 19.4 per cent less
unemployed persons, compared to the fourth quarter of 2013,
which means that unemployment has dropped by 2.4 per cent
year-on-year.

Unemployment has decreased during the fourth quarter of last
year in both men and women. The number of jobless males has
dropped by 2.4 percentage points, reaching 11.4 per cent in Q4
of 2014. Unemployment among women has fallen by 2.5 percentage
points, reaching 9.7 per cent. There were a total of 203,000
unemployed males and 151,500 unemployed females between October
and December of last year.

A total of 13.8 per cent of all unemployed persons have
post-secondary education, 51.4 have secondary education and 34.8
per cent have primary education or less.

There were a total of 226,700 long-term unemployed persons, who
have been jobless for over a year, in the fourth quarter of
2014, accounting for 63.9 per cent of all unemployed. Their
number has gone up by 3 .9 percentage points compared to the
fourth quarter of 2013. The long-term unemployment rate was 6 .8
per cent, being 1. 9 percentage points higher for men compared
to women (7.7 per cent and 5.8 per cent respectively). Of the
total number of unemployed 56,900 persons (16.0 per cent) were
looking for their first job.

Unemployment in the 15-29 age group was 17.6 per cent in the
fourth quarter of 2014 (18.5 per cent for men and 16.5 per cent
for women), which is 4.6 percentage points less compared to the
corresponding quarter of the previous year. The drop in this age
group was 4.3 percentage points for men and 5.0 percentage
points for women.