site.btaOver 87,000 People Start Work in First Half of 2025 with Employment Agency's Support

A total of 87,460 people became employed with the support of labour offices during the first six months of 2025, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy announced here on Tuesday. Active support through programmes, measures, and projects funded by the state budget and the European Social Fund+, along with the intermediary work of the Employment Agency, played a key role in increasing the number of unemployed people entering the labour market. These figures are based on the Agency’s Action Plan Implementation Report for the first half of 2025.

The average monthly registered unemployment rate for the period was 5.36%. By comparison, during the same period last year, it stood at 5.7%. 

The Employment Agency also reported major progress in adult training. Over 84,800 unemployed and employed individuals took part in various courses and forms of training in the first half of 2025 — nearly four times more than in the same period in 2024. Individual career guidance was provided to 128,064 people, marking a 15.2% increase compared to the first half of last year.

One of the key tools for overcoming employment barriers among jobseekers was the organisation of 88 job fairs across the country over the past six months. These fairs attracted 10,996 participants and 967 employers, who announced a total of 7,821 job vacancies. Additionally, 686 Employer Days were held to encourage businesses to advertise job openings and hire unemployed people on the primary labour market.

During the first half of the year, the Employment Agency approved access to the Bulgarian labour market for 27,109 third-country nationals (from outside the EU) under all procedures related to the employment of foreign workers. This figure represents 78% of the total number of foreign nationals employed in Bulgaria for the whole 2024, when that number stood at 34,720.