Bulgaria's Unemployment Declines by 1% in 4 Months

Bulgarian Labor Minister Mladenov (middle) has announced a slight decline in the unemployment rate. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria’s unemployment rate in June 2010 was 9.26%, a slight reduction from the 9.53% in May, announced Labor Minister Totyu Mladenov.

During a visit to Varna, the Minister pointed out that June is the fourth consecutive month in which Bulgaria has registered a decline of the number of its unemployment rate.

According to official government statistics, after hitting a peak of 10.3% in February, the highest value since the beginning of the economic crisis at the end of 2008, the number of unemployed in Bulgaria has keep declining slightly over the last three months.

Thus, since February, the number of the unemployed Bulgarians has dropped by 1%, or by 37 000 people, the Labor Minister explained.

He did point out, however, that there has been an increase in the number of Bulgarians working in the so called “gray economy”. Over the last week, labor inspectorates around the country have found 100 cases of hiring workers without labor contracts, and have imposed fines of BGN 15 000 to each unfair employer.

Mladenov announced that a total of 6 200 unskilled laborers will be employed in July under temporary program of his ministry. 10 000 more will be hired after October 1, 2010. The government’s total spending on this program is BGN 10 M.

Another measure that the Labor Ministry is undertaking concerns youth employment. In the fall, it will start an internship program to provide grants for six-month internships for about 15 000 Bulgarian students working in various private companies.

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