site.btaEmployment Rate in EU, Bulgaria Reaches Historical High in 2022

In 2022, the EU employment rate reached its historical high at 74.6 %, Eurostat said on Tuesday. However, when examining regional data, significant differences emerge beneath the EU average.

In Bulgaria, the employment rate stood at 70.4% of the working population aged 16 to 64. This is the highest employment rate recorded in this country since Eurostat started compiling data for Bulgaria in 2000, when its employment rate was 51.5%.

In 2021, the rate slightly decreased to 68.1%. A year later, it grew by 1.3%.

In 2022, the highest employment rate in Bulgaria was registered in the Southwestern Region, where Sofia is located - 75.8%, which is an increase of 2.1% compared to 2021.

The largest share of people employed in EU’s regions in 2022 was recorded in the Finnish archipelago of Aland, at 89.7%, followed by the Polish capital region of Warszawski stołeczny (85.4%), the Dutch region of Utrecht (85.1%) and the Swedish capital region of Stockholm (85.1%).

More than two fifths of all regions (102 out of the 242) had an employment rate equal to or above 78% - the EU employment rate target for 2030. These regions were mainly concentrated in Czechia (all eight regions), Denmark (all five regions), Germany (36 out of 38 regions; the exceptions being Bremen and Dusseldorf), Estonia, Malta, the Netherlands (all 12 regions) and Sweden (all eight regions).

In contrast, in three regions in southern Italy, less than half of the population was employed, in Sicilia (46.2%), Calabria (47.0%), and Campania (47.3%).