Bulgaria

1.Series

Title:

Monthly information on the unemployment situation in Bulgaria.

Starting year:

1991.

2.Agency making the initial registrations of unemployed persons

Name of the agency:

Employment Agency.

Type of agency:

Public service under a national authority.

Name of the national authority:

Ministry of Labour and Social Policy.

Location of the local offices making the registrations:

There are 122 Labour Offices and 141 Labour Office Branches throughout the country.

Type of services provided/administered by the agency:

  • Assisting job-seekers to find jobs;
  • Assisting job-seekers to establish their own business;
  • Assisting employers to find workers;
  • Vocational guidance;
  • Job-related training;
  • Paying unemployment compensation.

    3.The following information is registered about a person:

  • Name;
  • Sex;
  • Social security number (or similar identification number also used by other agencies);
  • Address of usual residence;
  • Date of birth;
  • Citizenship;
  • Educational/vocational attainment, with eight categories distinguished. Links to ISCED have not been established;
  • Current/past activity status, with four categories distinguished;
  • Type of work (occupation) of past or present job with 51 categories distinguished. Links to ISCO-88 have not been established;
  • Type of work (occupation of job sought, with 51 categories distinguished. Links to ISCO-88 have not been established;
  • Name and address of present or previous employer or work place;
  • Type of business (industry) of present/previous employer/workplace, with 280 categories distinguished. Links to NACE, rev.1 (class level) have been established;
  • Previous registrations with the agency/service.

    4.Criteria used for inclusion of a person in the registers (R) and/or the statistics of unemployed persons (S):

  • Being without work (R);
  • Seeking work (R);
  • Availability for work (R);
  • Age: lower limit: 16 years; no upper limit (R);
  • Citizenship (R);
  • Being resident in the country (R);

    5.Criteria used for exclusion of a person from the registers (R) and/or the statistics of unemployed persons (S):

  • Death (R);
  • Taking up residency abroad (R);
  • Commencement of a (new) job (R);
  • Commencement of military service (R);
  • Participation in an employment promotion scheme, public works programme, etc. (R);
  • Studying or undergoing training (R);
  • Failure to contact the agency/service (R);
  • Refusal of one suitable job offer (R);
  • Refusal of one suitable training offer (R);
  • Receipt of a pension (R).

    6.Definition of unemployed persons used for the statistics

    An unemployed person is one who is out of work, is actively seeking work and is ready to start work within the two weeks of notification by the Employment Agency division.

    7.Updating of the registers

    The registers are updated regularly.

    8.Unemployment rates

    Statistics from the registers are used to obtain unemployment rates.

    The source of data on employed persons who are part of the denominator of the unemployment rates is the Population Census.

    9.Type of statistics of unemployed persons produced

    Series 1:

    Reference period:

    Month.

    Frequency of production:

    Monthly.

    Descriptive variables used:

  • Sex;
  • Age;
  • Educational level;
  • Industry;
  • Geographic characteristics;
  • Duration of unemployment;
  • Other: vocational and educational characteristics.

    Form of publication:

  • For internal use;
  • On paper, for limited audience;
  • On a website (www.nsz.government.bg).

    Agency responsible for publication:

    Employment Agency.

    Title of the publication:

    Monthly information on the unemployment situation in Bulgaria.

    Series 2:

    Reference period:

    Year.

    Frequency of production:

    Yearly.

    Descriptive variables used:

  • Sex;
  • Age;
  • Educational level;
  • Industry;
  • Other: vocational and educational characteristics.

    Form of publication:

    On paper, for general audience.

    Agency responsible for publication:

    National Statistical Institute.

    Title of the publication:

    Statistics Reference Book.

    Series 3:

    Reference period:

    Year.

    Frequency of production:

    Yearly.

    Descriptive variables used:

  • Sex;
  • Age;
  • Educational level;
  • Geographic characteristics;
  • Other: vocational and educational characteristics.

    Form of publication:

    On paper, for general audience.

    Agency responsible for publication:

    National Statistical Institute.

    Title of the publication:

    NSI Yearbook.

    10.Methodological information about the statistics

    Form of release:

    Not released, available for internal use only;

    Agency responsible:

    Employment Agency.

    11.Comparisons with unemployment statistics from other sources

    Comparisons have not been made with unemployment statistics from other sources.

    12.Major changes since the start of the statistics

    There have been no major changes in legislation, capacity of the agency and/or administrative procedures which had a significant influence on the statistics.