Unemployment

A total of 8,000 new jobs will be financed under an employment project as the first framework contracts with employers have already been signed, Bulgaria's National Employment Agency announced.

Some 5,000 unemployed Bulgarians are expected to be hired by the end of October 2014, money.bg reports.

The slowdown in economic activity is taking its toll on employment. According to figures released on Oct. 15, the seasonally adjusted non-farm unemployment rate surged to 12.5 percent in July.

Turkey’s unemployment rate increased 0.7 percent in July, up to 9.8 percent from 9.1 percent in June, official data has shown

The level of youth unemployment in Bulgaria decreases, said Elka Dimitrova, head of the Labour Market Policies department at the Labour and Social Policies Ministry, quoted by BTA.

According to Dimitrova, year-on-year unemployment among people up to 29 years of age has dropped by 5%, to 23%. In her words, this was below the average for the EU.

Bulgaria's unemployment rate stood at 10.5% in September, according to the Employment Agency.

In September 2014, the unemployment rate went up by one tenth of a percent on the month, but decreased by 0.3% on the year.

In absolute terms, over 345 000 people were registered as unemployed.

 Jobless rate and prices drop as arrivals, cars and retail sales rise

A surge of encouraging figures and statistics on Wednesday and Thursday has pointed to the country’s return to growth, vindicating the government’s forecast that Greece’s gross domestic product would expand by 0.5-0.6 percent in 2014.

The Greek unemployment rate dipped 0.3 percent in July compared to June, continuing a slow by steady downward trend, data released on Thursday by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) showed.

ELSTAT's seasonally adjusted jobless rate for the crisis-hit nation in July was 26.4 percent in July from a revised 26.7 percent in June and 27.8 percent in July 2013.

Implementing the youth guarantee scheme is the top priority for all the governments of the European Union Countries, the Minister of Labour, Family Social Protection and Elderly Rovana Plumb said on Wednesday at the Romania TV station after a high-level conference on employment in Europe, held in Milan (Italy).

Prime Minister Victor Ponta announced he will present Romania's steps to promote youth employment at a high-level conference on this topic hosted in Milan by the Italian presidency of the European Council on Wednesday.

The latest International Monetary Fund forecast on joblessness in Greece revised the expected level of unemployment for this year down to 25.8 percent from 26.3 percent six months ago, and the figure for 2015 to 23.8 percent from 24.4 percent in April.