Social justice

The employment rate for the age group 20 - 64 years in Bulgaria was 67.1% last year, increasing by 2 percentage points compared with 2014, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) announced on Tuesday.

Bulgaria's unemployment rate stood at 10 % in February, recording 0.2 % drop compared to the first month of this year and 1 % decrease compared to February 2015.

A total of 329 610 people were registered as unemployed in February, which represented a decrease of 4960 people compared to January 2016 and a drop of 31 566 compared to February 2015, the Employment Agency informs.

Turkey's unemployment rate rose to a 10-month high of 10.8 percent in December 2015 from 10.5 percent in the previous month, data from the Turkish Statistics Agency (TÜ?K) showed on March 15. The rate was 10.9 percent in December 2014, according to official data. 

German unemployment remained at current historic lows in February despite a massive influx of refugees, as the recovery in Europe's biggest economy remains on track, data showed on March 1.

The unemployment rate - which measures the jobless total against the working population as a whole - stood at 6.2 percent in February, unchanged from January.     

Turkey's labor market needs reforms to become more flexible and bring the unemployment rate below 10 percent, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet ?im?ek said on Feb. 15.

Speaking after the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜ?K) released the unemployment rate for the October-December 2015 period, ?im?ek said he did not see a "bad trend" in unemployment.

The latest figures of Eurostat released on Tuesday show that Bulgaria's unemployment rate was below the EU average in the last month of 2015.

In December last year, Bulgaria registered an unemployment rate of 8.8 %, with the EU average being 9 %.

Bulgaria's unemployment rate retained its level from November 2015, decreasing by 1.4 % compared to the same month in 2014.

The unemployment rate in the euro zone and EU fell in December for the 15th month running to its lowest level in a little more than four years, according to data published by European statistics agency Eurostat.

In December 2015, unemployment rate in euro zone fell to 10.4%, while unemployment rate in EU fell to 9%.

Inadequate war crimes prosecutions, discrimination against minorities and poor protection of refugees were persistent problems in the Balkans in 2015, said a report by Human Rights Watch.

The Greek economy will return from negative to positive growth rates in the middle of 2016 for an annual recession rate of 1.5 % this year, Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE)  announced.

Unemployment in Bulgaria was 10 percent in December of last year, data from the country's Employment Agency shows.

This is a 0.7% year-on-year decrease, but is also up 0.1% from the month before.

As of December, 328 921 were registered at the agency, 4861 people more than in November, but 22 130 less than in December of 2014.