Bulgaria Reports Record Low Unemployment Amid EU Job Vacancy Decline

At the start of summer 2024, Bulgaria has reported record low unemployment levels. According to the latest data from Eurostat, the share of job vacancies across the European Union declined to 2.4 percent in the second quarter, down from 2.6 percent in the previous quarter.

In the Eurozone, the vacancy rate also fell, reaching 2.6 percent compared to 2.9 percent in the first quarter. For the same period, job vacancies in the EU were distributed as 2.2 percent in industry and construction, while the services sector saw a vacancy rate of 2.7 percent. Within the Eurozone, these figures were slightly higher, with rates of 2.3 percent in industry and construction and 2.9 percent in services.

Among EU member states with available data, Belgium and the Netherlands recorded the highest vacancy rates at 4.4 percent each, followed by Austria at 4 percent. In contrast, Bulgaria reported one of the lowest rates, with only 0.8 percent of job vacancies, alongside Romania at 0.7 percent, and Poland and Spain at 0.9 percent each.

When comparing the current quarter to the same period last year, job vacancy rates increased in six member states, remained steady in three, and declined in eighteen. Greece saw the most significant increase at 0.9 percentage points, while the largest decreases were observed in Germany (-1 percentage point), Austria (-0.9 percentage points), and Sweden (-0.8 percentage points).