Unemployment in Bulgaria, although it continues to be one of the lowest in the EU, is rising on an annual basis. It is already 4.6% compared to 4.5% in the second quarter of last year, according to NSI data published on Friday. The latest Eurostat unemployment surveys are from June and show 5.9%.

The average employment rate in our country is currently 70.3% and has not changed at all compared to a year ago. These percentages mean that 2,806,600 people work in our country out of the entire population of working age.

What is more worrying for Bulgaria, however, is that youth unemployment - in the 15-29 age group - is rising faster - by 1%.

It was 7.8% at the same time last year, and this year it is already 8.8%. Out of all 78,300 people who are currently looking for work, 21,500, i.e. 15.2% will start the first one.

Among young people, employment is quite low - only 35.7%. In principle, this age category also includes people at the age in which they have not yet fully completed their education. But a special study by Eurostat during the week showed that in finding a job on the part of those who have just finished their higher education.

Bulgaria does not shine with particularly good results. It is rather in the middle of this ranking with 78.8%. The data is for 2022 and shows that in Luxembourg and the Netherlands, 93% of young people aged 20-34 who have just finished their higher education have already found a job within a year of graduation.

Germany followed with 92 and Malta with 91%. At the other pole are Italy with 65, Greece with 66 and Romania with 70%.

These studies have been carried out since 2014 and show that between then and 2022 the employment rate of this age group has increased by an average of 7 percentage points across the EU to reach 82%.

This trend has developed constantly regardless of the economic situation at the moment, for example during the pandemic the trend has not been interrupted at all.

The employment rate of young graduates is higher for men than for women, although the gap is gradually closing. In general, this is due to the peculiarities of the labor market demand. A higher proportion of science and technology students are male, and this sector is in greater demand everywhere.

There are 1,050,200 people outside the labor market in Bulgaria. These are the people between 15 and 64 years old, after which they may retire. About 40% of them are still studying. This shows that there are about 60,000 permanently unemployed people in our country

Of those registered in the labor offices, only a small part have a higher education. In the second quarter of last year, they were 1.5% of all unemployed, and this year they slightly increased to 2%. The unemployed with secondary education were 4.3%, now they have reached 4.5%, the data show.

The highest share of unemployment is among the unskilled and without good education. Although they are down as a share compared to last year, they make up 13.8% of all unemployed.

Of all the unemployed, 14.2% have a higher education, 55 have a secondary education, 30.8% have a primary or lower education.
Source: https://manager.bg/%D0%B5%D1%81/kolko-lesno-mladezite-v-evropa-namirat-rabota-