Unemployment in Bulgaria was 8.6% in Q1 2016 – NSI
Unemployment in Bulgaria was 8.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2016, a decrease of two percentage points compared with the first quarter of 2015, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said on May 16 2016.
There were 279 600 unemployed people in Bulgaria in Q1 2016, 19.9 per cent lower than in the first quarter of 2015, the NSI said.
Of the total number of unemployed, 58.2 per cent were men and 41.8 per cent women, decreases of 2.1 percentage points and 1.9 percentage points, respectively, from the same period of 2015.
Of the unemployed, 13.5 per cent had higher education, 51.4 per cent upper secondary education and 35.1 per cent had lower secondary education or less, the institute said.
The unemployment rate for the respective levels of education were 3.7 per cent, 7.8 per cent and 25 per cent.
In the first quarter of 2016, there were 156 700 long-term unemployed people, representing 56.1 per cent of all unemployed.
The long-term unemployment rate was 4.8 per cent, which was 1.5 percentage points less than in the first quarter of 2015, according to the NSI.
The long-term unemployment rate declined by 1.6 percentage points for men and by 1.2 percentage points for women, reaching 5.1 per cent and 4.5 per cent, respectively.
Of the total number of unemployed 40 600 (14.5 per cent) were looking for job for the first time, the NSI said.
In the first quarter of 2016, the unemployment rate for Bulgarians aged 15 – 29 was 13.9 per cent (15.8 per cent and 11.1 per cent for men and women, respectively).
In comparison with the first quarter of 2015, the unemployment rate (15 – 29 years) decreased by three percentage points, by 2.6 percentage points for men and by 3.9 percentage points for women, the NSI said.
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