February 16 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's registered unemployment rate edged up to 5.8% in January from 5.6% in December, the Employment Agency said on Friday.
At the end of last month, there were 165,840 registered jobless people in the country, or 7,635 more than in December, the government agency said in a monthly report based on population numbers from the 2021 census.
In January alone, the agency registered 26,981 unemployed people, which was 8,204 more than a month earlier and 2,687 more than in the same month of 2023.
Some 11,343 jobless people started work with the help of labour offices in the month under review, or 2,436 more than in December. Of them, the largest share, or 15.8%, found jobs in the manufacturing industry, while trade followed with 14.6%.
There were 10,037 job vacancies on the primary labour market in January, up from 4,452 registered in December, the agency added. The highest percentage of vacancies was reported in the manufacturing industry - 28.2%, followed by public administration with 12.4%, trade with 12%, education with 9.6%, hospitality and catering with 7% and administrative and auxiliary activities with 5.8%.