The largest percentage of unemployment among men in working age in the EU has been registered in Bulgaria, according to estimates of Eurostat, the statistical office of the Union.

The share of unemployed men in Bulgaria is 25%, followed by Romania – 13.5% and Hungary – 11.7%.

Data of Bulgaria's National Statistics Institute, NSI, shows that there were 250 000 unemployed men in 2011, compared to 170 000 women. According to NSI, 3.3 million people had jobs in Bulgaria last year, of them 1.7 million (56.5%) were men and 1.5 (46.5%) were women. The coefficient of economic effectiveness was 51.3%.

Bulgarians, ages 35-44, were the most labor active – nearly 990 000, followed by those ages 45-54 – 900 000, 25-43 – 670 000, and 55-64 – over 460 000.

The main working age of the overall EU population is 25-54, according to Eurostat data, which notes that this age group is the one that establishes families and raises children, but also has the highest rate of economically inactive people.

Eurostat data for 2011 lists 8.4% of men and 21.6% of women in the above age group or 8.9 million and 22.8 million respectively as unemployed.

Half of the unemployed women in the age group (about 10 million) say they do not have jobs because of personal or family reasons compared to only 0.5% of men.

The number of those ages 25-54 not working due to illness, disabilities or early retirement, is nearly the same for men and women – 4.8 million and 4.9 million, respectively.

According to Eurostat data, nearly 75% of jobless Europeans, ages 25-54, had not worked in the last 2 years, while nearly one forth never had a job.

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