In Q4 the number of unemployed persons in Bulgaria stood at 215,000, and unemployment came to 6.1%, the National Statistics Institute reveals. Unemployment among women is 1.1 points higher than that among men – 6.7% and 5.6% respectively.

The unemployment rate in urban and rural areas differs greatly – 4.9% and 9.9% respectively.

Compared with Q4 2006, the number of jobless has declined by 73,100 people and the unemployment rate is 2.3 points down. Unemployment among men declined 2.5 points, and 2.0 points among women. In terms of location, the jobless rate is 1.9 points down in cities, and 3.5 points in villages.

There are 43,800 jobless young people (between 15 – 24 years of age). The youth unemployment rate fell 14.5% (2.9 points) y/y.

1.8% of the unemployed people are university graduates, 5.3% have high school education, 13.9% did not go to high school, and 28.6% have no education.

136,000 people (63.4%) have been unemployed for a long period of time.

52,400 jobless people (24.3%) are in search for their first job ever.

When looking for a job almost 2/3 of the unemployed (138,900) rely on the help of relatives, 98,800 people (45.9%) are applying directly with an employer, 82,900 (38.5%) rely on their local Unemployment Office and 73,700 (34.2%) regularly study the job ads (some people gave several answers here).