March 15 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria’s unemployment rate dropped by 1 percentage point (pp) to 5.2% in 2018, while the number of persons unemployed fell 16.2% to 173,300, the National Statistical Institute said on Friday.
Youth unemployment, covering the 15-29 age bracket, decreased by 1.6 pp to 8.3% in 2018, the statistical office said in a statement.
Long-term unemployment, representing people who have been without a job for more than a year, stood at 3.1% in 2018. There were a total of 101,600 persons in this group, or 58.6% of all unemployed persons.
There were 3.153 million persons employed in Bulgaria in 2018, or 52.4% of the population aged 15 and over.
Regarding persons aged 15-64, there were 3.069 million employed, or 67.7% of all persons in the age bracket.
Economically active persons in the 15-64 age bracket amounted to 3.240 million, or 71.5% of the total.