December 18 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's November jobless rate rose to 8.66% from 8.23% in October and 5.85% in November 2008, official data showed on Friday.
The number of unemployed totalled 320,758 at the end of November, 15,843 up from a month earlier, the government's Employment Agency said in a statement.
Official job vacancies totalled 10,743 at the end of November, 10,104 less than a month earlier. A total of 12,232 unemployed Bulgarians were hired in November, 8,985 less than a month earlier.
The country's jobless rate was 6.27% at the end of last year.
Bulgaria's unemployment rate is expected to reach 9.2%-9.3% by the end of 2009, Labour Minister Totyu Mladenov said in November. The jobless rate is expected to rise further to 11.4% next year.
Bulgaria, which joined the European Union in 2007, has a population of 7.6 million.