Bulgaria's unemployment rate holds at 3.5% in August, 106,000 out of work

Мария Георгиева 01.10.2026 • 14:16 · 448 прегледа · 1 коментара

Bulgaria had the second-lowest unemployment rate in the eurozone and the fifth-lowest in the EU in August, Eurostat estimates show.

Bulgaria's unemployment rate held at 3.5% in August, the second-lowest in the eurozone and fifth-lowest in the EU, according to Eurostat estimates. The rate was unchanged from July and down 0.2 percentage points from a year earlier.

The number of people out of work in the country stood at 106,000, down 1,000 from July and down 7,000 from August 2025, when unemployment was 3.7% and 113,000 people were without jobs.

Youth unemployment also fell. Among people under 25, it stood at 13.5%, down from 13.9% in July and 14.5% a year earlier — a drop of 1 percentage point over the year.

Unemployment among women was 3.1%, up from 3% in July but down from 3.5% in August 2025. Among men it was 3.9%, down 0.1 percentage points from July but unchanged from August 2025.

Only the Czech Republic, at 3.2%, had a lower rate than Bulgaria in the EU. It was followed by Malta, Poland and Slovenia, all at 3.4%. Finland had the highest unemployment rate, at 10.3%, followed by Spain at 10% and Sweden at 8.7%.

Eurozone countries reported unemployment of 6.4% in August, unchanged from July. That was up 0.1 percentage points from a year earlier, when the rate stood at 6.3%. The EU-wide rate was 6.1%, also flat from July and up from 6% in August 2025.

Across the EU, 13.6 million people were out of work, of whom 11.357 million were in the eurozone. Month on month, the number fell by 12,000 in the EU and by 26,000 in the eurozone. But compared with a year earlier, it rose by 348,000 in the EU and by 267,000 in the eurozone.

Youth unemployment in the EU rose from 15.3% in July to 15.4% in August, while in the eurozone it fell from 15.1% to 15%. The EU had 2.973 million young people under 25 out of work, and the eurozone had 2.391 million.

Compared with July, the number of unemployed young people rose by 13,000 in the EU but fell by 9,000 in the eurozone. Year on year, it rose by 19,000 in the EU and by 38,000 in the eurozone.