Bulgaria Registers Nearly 13% Unemployment in Q1 2012

422 500 Bulgarians have turned unemployed in the first quarter of 2012. File photo

In the first quarter of 2012 the economically active population in Bulgaria, aged 15 – 64, was 3 234.6 thousand, representing 65.4% of the people in the same age group.

The number of unemployed persons was 422.5 thousand and the unemployment rate - 12.9%. In comparison with the same quarter of 2011 the unemployment rate rose by 0.7 percentage points.

The data comes from flash results from the Labor Force Survey, carried out and published by the National Statistical Institute, NSI.

In comparison with the first quarter of 2011, the activity rate was by 0.2 percentage points higher.

The total number of employed persons was 2 851.3 thousand and their relative share of the population aged 15 and over was 45.1%.

The number of employed persons aged 15 - 64 was 2 813.7 thousand. The employment rate for the population of the same age group was 56.9%, down by 0.3 percentage points as compared to the same quarter of 2011.

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