In the fourth quarter of 2011 the economically active population in Bulgaria, aged 15 – 64, was 3 292.1 thousand people.

Data comes from the results from the Labor Force Survey, carried out and released by the National Statistical Institute, NSI.

The total activity rate was 66.3% and in comparison with the fourth quarter of 2010 was by 0.3% lower.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, the number of unemployed was 380.9 thousand and the unemployment rate - 11.4%.

In comparison with the same quarter of 2010 the unemployment rate increased for men (by 0.7%) and decreased for women (by 0.4%) and in the fourth quarter of 2011 male unemployment (12.8%) was by 2.9% higher than female unemployment (9.9%).

The young unemployed (15 - 24 years of age) were 72.9 thousand, and the youth unemployment rate reached 28.9%. The rate was 29.8% for men and 27.5% for women respectively.

The number of long-term unemployed was 212.3 thousand, which was 55.7% of all unemployed and compared to the fourth quarter of 2010 their number rose by 6.3%.

The long-term unemployment rate went up by 0.5% and reached 6.4% in the fourth quarter of 2011. The rate increased for men (by 1.3%) and decreased for women (by 0.4%), and reached 7.5% for men and 5.1% for women.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, 310.2 thousand (81.4%) of all unemployed persons had previous employment experience, and 70.7 thousand (18.6%) were looking for their first job.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, the employment rate for population aged 15 - 64 was 58.7% - respectively 60.6% for men and 56.8% for women. Compared to the same period of 2010, the employment rate (15 - 64 years) fell by 0.3%, as a decrease was observed only for men - by 1.1%.

Between the fourth quarters of 2010 and 2011, the employment rate for population aged 20 - 64 years (an Europe 2020 indicator) went down by 0.6% and reached 64.1% - 66.1% for men and 62.0% for women respectively.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, the employment rate for the age group 55 - 64 years was

43.8% and compared to the same quarter of 2010 rose by 0.9%, which was entirely due to the increase of female employment - by 2.1%.  The employment rate for this age group was 47.9% for men and 40.1% for women respectively.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, the inactive population aged 15 - 64 was 1 671.7 thousand people or 33.7% of the population in the same age group. Out of the total inactive population, 753.1 thousand were men and 918.6 thousand - women, and the inactivity rate by gender was 30.4% and 37.0% respectively.

Discouraged persons aged 15 - 64 were 225.4 thousand (124.8 thousand men and 100.6 thousand women), and as compared to the fourth quarter of 2010 their number remained almost the same.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, the total number of employed persons aged 15 years and over was 2 955.2 thousand, accounting 45.7% of population in the same age group. In comparison with the same quarter of 2010 their number decreased by 68.5 thousand (2.3%), and their share of the population by 0.6% respectively.

Out of the total number of employed 1 529.8 thousand were men and 1 425.5 thousand were women. Over a year, the number of employed men went down by 3.2% and that of women by 1.2%.

In the fourth quarter of 2011 the number of employed persons with college degrees was 807.6 thousand (27.3% of employed), 1 807.4 thousand (61.2%) had completed high school, and 340.2 thousand (11.5%) had middle or elementary school education.

In all three groups by level of education the number of employed was lower than in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The decrease in employment between fourth quarters of 2010 and 2011 affected more persons running their own businesses and other independent workers. Self-employed persons (incl. employers and unpaid family workers) declined by 38.7 thousand (10.2%) over that period and employees by 29.8 thousand (1.1%) respectively.

In the fourth quarter of 2011 the employers represented 3.4% of the total employment, 7.3% were self-employed without employees, 88.4% were employees and 0.9% were unpaid family workers.

Among employees 1 895.1 thousand (72.5%) worked in private sector and 717.8 thousand (27.5%) in public sector. Women had a larger proportion than men in the public sector, and accounted for 58.5% of public employees, while in private sector the majority of employees (53.9%) were men.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, 1 813.2 thousand (61.4%) of all employed persons worked in service sector, 950.5 thousand (32.2%) - in the industry sector, and 191.6 thousand (6.5%). - in agriculture, forestry and fishing. The employed in services and industry decreased by 1.5% and 4.2% respectively, as compared with the same quarter of 2010, while those in agriculture, forestry and fishing remained virtually unchanged.

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