Bulgaria has registered the highest decline in employment among all 27 countries in the European Union in the second quarter of 2012, latest Eurostat data indicates.

Thus, in April-June 2012, Bulgaria's employment went down by 1.3% compared with the first quarter of the year.

Bulgaria's employment fares even worse in Q2 of 2012 on annual basis, registering a 2.8% decline year-on-year.

Other EU members – Denmark, Spain, Cyprus, Malta, Portugal, and Slovenia – have also seen declines in their employment levels in the second quarter of 2012 but their drops are all below 0.5%. No Eurostat data is available about Greece and Romania.

The number of persons employed remained stable in the euro area1 (EA17) and increased by 0.1% in the EU27 in the second quarter of 2012 compared with the previous quarter, according to national accounts estimates published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

In the first quarter of 2012, employment fell by 0.3% in the euro area and by 0.1% in the EU27. These figures are seasonally adjusted.

The highest increase in employment was recorded in real estate activities (+0.7% in the euro area and +1.4% in the EU27), and the largest fall in financial and insurance activities (-0.8% and -0.7% respectively).

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, employment fell by 0.6% in the euro area and by 0.2% in the EU27 in the second quarter of 2012 (after -0.5% and -0.2% respectively in the first quarter of 2012).

Eurostat estimates that, in the second quarter of 2012, 223.4 million men and women were employed in the EU27, of which 146.4 million were in the euro area.

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