Bulgaria’s Jobless Rate Dips to Post-2008 Low

Politics » DOMESTIC | September 3, 2015, Thursday // 20:06
Bulgaria: Bulgaria’s Jobless Rate Dips to Post-2008 Low Bulgaria's Labour and Social Policy Minister Ivaylo Kalfin. File photo by BGNES

Bulgaria’s unemployment rate has fallen to 9.3% in August, its lowest level since 2008, Labour Minister Ivaylo Kalfin announced on Thursday.

There were  309,781 jobless people registered with the government’s Employment Agency last month, Kalfin said, according to BTA state news agency.

At the same time, there were more than 15,000 job vacancies on offer, an increase of over 1,500 compared with July and 1,100 more than in August 2014.

Bulgaria has created more than 170,000 new jobs since the beginning of the year, an increase of some 44,000 over the same period of 2014, Kalfin said.

More than half of the registered unemployed Bulgarians were older than 50 years, with most of them having worked in sectors fully subsidized by the state. Kalfin said that the Labour Ministry is expecting proposals from businesses for the most appropriate use of the professional expertise and skills of those aged 55 and above.

Under changes to pension insurance legislation approved by Bulgaria’s parliament in July, from 2016 women will be able to retire at the age of 60 years and 10 months if they have worked at least 35 years and 2 months, while men will be able to retire at the age of 63 years and 10 months after having clocked 38 years and 2 months of work.

Also from next year, the retirement age will start increasing by two months a year for both men and women until 2029. In 2037, both men and women in Bulgaria will retire at the age of 65 years, with men having worked for at least 40 years and women - for 37 years.

 

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Tags: Bulgaria, Kalfin, unemployment rate, jobless, labour, vacancies, pension, retirement age 

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