In November the job offices posted 11,541 vacancies, fewer than in October and 798 (7.4 per cent) more than a year earlier, the Employment Agency with the Labour and Social Policy Ministry said.

The drop from October is largely due to fewer jobs announced under employment programmes.

The primary market saw a traditional seasonal drop in announced vacancies, the Ministry said. In November 7,542 jobs were announced. At 62.6 per cent private sector jobs still predominated among the vacancies announced at the job offices.

By qualifications, the jobs announced break down as follows: 5,537 (73.4 per cent) for unskilled labour, 1,184 (15.7 per cent) for specialists, and 821 (10.9 per cent) for blue-collar workers.

The largest number of announced jobs, 1,930, are in the processing industry, followed by 1,053 in trade, 765 in state government, 489 in construction, 475 in administrative and auxiliary activities, 436 in finance and insurance, 428 in education and 417 in real estate. New and seasonal jobs in the real economy were almost unchanged at 731 and 215 vacancies, respectively.

The subsidized jobs announced under employment measures numbered 985. The jobs taken numbered 10,570, of which 5,883 jobs (56.6 per cent) were on the primary market; 3,118 jobs were taken under employment programmes; and 1,569 vacancies were filled under employment and training measures.

There were 3,014 subsidized jobs announced under employment programmes and Operational Programme Human Resources Development.

Labour and Social Policy Minister Totyu Mladenov told journalists that 3 million leva had been allocated for some 2,100 green jobs under the National Employment Plan for 2011. Companies which create jobs in environment friendly production will be subsidized. The amount allocated for every employee is the minimum wage for six months. Mladenov said that in 2012 larger financing was likely to be allocated to encourage employers investing in green jobs.

He also predicted that the minimum wage may start growing slightly from July 1, 2011. The Ministry's priorities for next year are to have fewer jobless and disadvantaged people and more people in jobs.

Source: BTA