Bulgaria's Nov Jobless Rate Rises to 8.66% - Govt Employment Agency

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.