Bulgaria's Q2 jobless rate highest in 3 years

Source: Xinhua | 2020-08-15

The unemployment rate in Bulgaria rose to 5.9 percent in the second quarter of 2020 from 4.2 percent in the same period of last year, reaching the highest level since 2017, official statistics showed on Friday.

The National Statistical Institute (NSI) said in a quarterly labour force survey that there were 192,200 people registered as unemployed in Bulgaria in Q2.

Among the unemployed, 17.3 percent had attained tertiary education, 55.5 percent had completed upper secondary education, and 27.2 percent had at most lower secondary education, the NSI said.

The number of long-term unemployed persons -- those unemployed for longer than a year -- was 72,200, the NSI said.

In the first quarter of 2020, Bulgaria's unemployment rate stood at 4.6 percent.