site.btaQ1 2023 Unemployment in Bulgaria at 4.4% - Statistics

The unemployment rate in the first quarter of 2023 was 4.4%, or 0.4 percentage points lower than that in the first quarter of 2022, the National Statistical Institute said Friday. The unemployment rate in the first quarter of the prepandemic 2019 was 5%, or 0.7 percentage points lower year-on-year.

In the first quarter of 2023, there were 70,300 long-term unemployed (unemployed for one year or more), representing 52.1% of all unemployed. The long-term unemployment rate was 2.3%, higher for men (2.6%) as compared to women (1.9%). Among all unemployed, 19,300 (14.3%) were looking for their first job.

In the first quarter of 2023, the youth unemployment rate (age group 15 - 29) was registered at 7.1% (8.1% for men and 5.8% for women). In comparison with the same quarter of 2022, the unemployment rate (age group 15 - 29) went down by 1.1 percentage points, which was entirely due to the decrease of the indicator for women (by 2.6 percentage points).

In the first quarter of 2023, there were 2,928,000 employed, including 1,545,500 men and 1,382.500 women. Compared to the first quarter of 2022, the number of employed increased by 2.1%. The employment rate for the population aged 15 years and over was 53.1%, 59.1% for men and 47.8% for women.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, the total number of employed stood at 3.197 million. Compared to the last quarter of 2021, the number of employed had risen by 3.8%.