site.btaUnemployment in Bulgaria at 5.6% in February

Unemployment in Bulgaria stood at 5.6% in February, down by 0.24 percentage points year-on-year. A total of 158,706 were registered as unemployed by the end of the month, up from 158,040 in January, the Employment Agency said in a press release on Monday.

More than 5,900 inactive individuals found jobs in February. Roma and youth mediators, along with employment intermediaries, played a key role in boosting the labour market, the Agency said, adding that 11,868 unemployed found employment. A total of 394 from the groups of jobseekers – employed individuals, students, and pensioners - also found employment with the support of employment intermediaries.

There were 12,831 job vacancies on the primary labour market. The largest share was in manufacturing (20.5%), trade and car and motorcycle repair (14.7%) and hospitality (13.3%). The most in-demand occupations included personal service workers, salespersons, drivers, manufacturing and construction workers, machine operators and administrative professionals, the Employment Agency said.

In February, 779 individuals from at-risk groups were in subsidized employment. Of these, 86 were employed under programmes and measures funded by the state budget, and 693 found jobs through projects under the Human Resources Development Programme 2021–2027, co-financed by the European Social Fund Plus. More than 14,900 training vouchers were issued to support both employed and unemployed people.