Bulgaria 19th in the European Union in self-employed people – Eurostat
Of the total 3.14 million people in employment in Bulgaria in 2018, about 342 100 were self-employed, European Union statistics agency Eurostat said on April 30.
This meant that about 10.8 per cent were self-employed, ranking Bulgaria 19th in this respect in the EU.
Of the self-employed people in Bulgaria, 71 500 described themselves as managers, 44 900 as professionals, 17 800 as technicians, 77 000 as in sales and services, 56 000 as in skilled agriculture, 34 100 as plant and machine operators and 17 800 as in elementary trades, according to Eurostat.
The proportions of people in Bulgaria who are self-employed have remained largely unchanged in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Eurostat said that 32.6 million people aged 15 to 74 in the EU were self-employed in 2018. They accounted for 14 per cent of total employment.
Across the EU member states, almost one in every three people in employment in Greece was self-employed in 2018 (30 per cent) and around one in five in Italy (22 per cent), Poland (18 per cent) and Romania (17 per cent).
These countries were followed by the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Spain (each 16 per cent), Portugal, Slovakia and the United Kingdom (each 15 per cent).
At the opposite end of the scale, the self- employed accounted for less than 10 per cent of total employment in Denmark and Luxembourg (both 8 per cent) as well as in Germany and Sweden (both nine per cent).
The most popular occupations among self-employed workers were under the headings ‘Professionals’ (22 per cent), ‘Service and sales workers’ (16 per cent) and ‘Craft and related trades workers’ (15 per cent). These categories were followed by ‘Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers’ (14 per cent), ‘Technicians and associate professionals’ as well as ‘Managers’ (both 12 per cent).
Together these categories accounted for 90 per cent of the total number of self-employed.
Two out of three of the total number of the self-employed in the EU were men (68 per cent), Eurostat said.
(Photo: Vangelis Thomaidis)
