Persons not in the labour force - national level; statistical regions

Time series : Labour_3.1.4_EN.xls

PERSONS NOT IN THE LABOUR FORCE AGED 15 YEARS AND OVER FOR THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2025
Sex Place of residence Age	Number - thousands
Total	2 483.5
By sex
Male	1 008.6
Female	1 474.9
By place of residence
Urban	1 691.4
Rural	792.2
By age
15-24	497.2
25-34	109.1
35-44	92.2
45-54	112.5
55-64	250.8
65 and over	1 421.8

PERSONS NOT IN THE LABOUR FORCE AGED 15 - 64 FOR THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2025
Sex Place of residence Level of education	Number - thousands
Total	1 061.7
By sex
Male	464.8
Female	596.9
By place of residence
Urban	722.5
Rural	339.2
By level of education
Higher	82.3
Upper secondary	529.7
of which: secondary vocational	194.2
Lower secondary	369.9
Primary or lower	79.7

PERSONS NOT IN THE LABOUR FORCE AGED 15 - 64 BY REASONS FOR INACTIVITY AND SEX FOR THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2025

(Thousands)
Reasons for inactivity	Total	Male	Female
Total	1 061.7	464.8	596.9
Persons who want to work	101.7	50.2	51.4
of which not looking for job by reason:
Discouraged	14.2	8.5	5.7
Participation in education or training	8.2	(3.7)	(4.5)
Own illness or disability	(2.5)	(1.4)	(1.2)
Personal or family reasons	23.9	9.3	14.5
Persons who do not want to work	960.0	414.6	545.4
of which by reason:
Participation in education or training	447.7	223.0	224.7
Own illness or disability	125.4	68.3	57.1
Personal or family reasons	258.0	75.9	182.1
Retirement	112.2	39.8	72.4
( ) - due to small sample figures in brackets are not reliable

DISCOURAGED PERSONS FOR THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2025
Sex Place of residence Age Level of education	Number - thousands
Total	15.3
By sex
Male	9.0
Female	6.2
By place of residence
Urban	7.1
Rural	8.1
By age
15 - 64	14.2
15 - 24	(2.1)
25 - 34	(4.2)
35 - 44	(2.1)
45 - 54	(3.9)
55 and over	(2.8)
By level of education
Higher	(1.3)
Upper secondary	(3.6)
of which: secondary vocational	(3.0)
Lower secondary	5.9
Primary or lower	(4.4)
( ) - due to small sample figures in brackets are not reliable

PERSONS NOT IN THE LABOUR FORCE FOR THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2025

(Thousands)
Statistical zones Statistical regions	Total	Male	Female	Of which aged 15 - 64
Statistical zones Statistical regions	Total	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female
Total	2 483.5	1 008.6	1 474.9	1 061.7	464.8	596.9
Severna i Yugoiztochna Bulgaria
Severozapaden	278.8	117.3	161.4	109.3	52.3	57.0
Severen tsentralen	290.0	118.6	171.4	117.4	52.7	64.8
Severoiztochen	304.5	116.0	188.5	126.6	47.3	79.3
Yugoiztochen	363.1	141.9	221.2	153.7	61.3	92.4
Yugozapadna i Yuzhna tsentralna Bulgaria
Yugozapaden	709.4	295.5	413.9	314.9	147.5	167.4
Yuzhen tsentralen	537.7	219.2	318.5	239.8	103.8	136.0

21.05.2025

Methodology

Euro-SDMX Metadata Structure (ESMS)

Labour Force Survey - Labour Force Survey - quarterly data
Contact
Contact organisation	National Statistical Institute
Contact organisation unit	Labour Force Statistics Department
Contact name	Tsveta Kostova - Sevastiyanova Stanislava Statkova Daniela Marinkova Tsvetanka Zivripanova Vladimir Stanoykov
Contact person function	Head of department State expert Chief expert Junior expert Junior expert
Contact mail address	2, P. Volov Str., 1038 Sofia, Bulgaria
Contact email address	ckostova@nsi.bg sistatkova@nsi.bg DMarinkova@NSI.bg TsZivripanova@NSI.bg VStanoykov@NSI.bg
Contact phone number	(+359 2) 9857 619 (+359 2) 9857 664 (+359 2) 9857 132 (+359 2) 9857 469 (+359 2) 9857 549
Contact fax number
Metadata update
Metadata last certified	21 May 2025
Metadata last posted	21 May 2025
Metadata last update	21 May 2025
Statistical presentation
Data description	Quarterly data from the Labour force survey The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a sample statistical survey carried out through households. The main purpose of the survey is to provide data on labour status of population aged 15 years and over and on the main characteristics of employed, unemployed and persons out of labour force in the Republic of Bulgaria.
Classification system	The classifications applied in the Labour Force Survey are harmonised with the international classifications in terms of economic activities, occupations, levels of education. The main classifications used are the following: International Standard Classification of Education, 1997 version (ISCED 1997) - until the end of 2013; International Standard Classification of Education, 2011 version (ISCED 2011) - since the beginning of 2014; Classification of Economic Activities (CEA-2008, for international use NACE.BG 2008) - since 2008; National Classification of Occupations and Duties-2005 (NCOD-2005) (1st digit - occupational class), comparable to the International Standard Classification of Occupations - ISCO '88 - until the end of 2010; National Classification of Occupations and Duties-2011 (NCOD-2011) (1st digit - occupational class), comparable to the International Standard Classification of Occupations - ISCO '08 - since the beginning of 2011; International classification of professional status - ICSE-93; Classification of Territorial Units for Statistical Purposes in Bulgaria - NUTS.
Sector coverage	All members of the selected non-institutional households are covered. The questions on labour market participation are asked to persons aged 15 - 89 years.
Statistical concepts and definitions	The Labour Force Survey provides estimates for the main characteristics of labour market as employment, unemployment, inactivity, occupations, economic activities, working time and other, as well as social-demographic characteristics as sex, age, place of residence (urban/rural), education etc. The main definitions applied in the survey are in accordance with the recommendation of International Labour Organisation and EU legislation. Employed persons are persons aged 15 - 89 years who during the reference period: performed some work for at least one hour for pay in cash or in kind or other income; did not work but had a job or an enterprise, a business from which they were temporarily absent due to following reasons: - holidays, illness, maternity or paternity leave, working time arrangement; - participation in job-related training; - off-season, where persons continue to regularly perform tasks and duties for the job or business, excluding fulfilment of legal or administrative obligations; - other absence (incl. unpaid parental leave for taking care of a child between 2 and 8 years of age), where the expected duration of this absence is 3 month or less. Persons that produce agricultural goods are considered employed if the main part of these products is intended for sale or barter. Unemployed persons are persons aged 15 - 74 who were not employed during the reference week, according to the above definition, and were currently available for work, i.e. were available for paid employment or self-employment before the end of the 2 weeks following the reference week; and were actively seeking work in the four-week period ending with the reference week or found a job to start within a period of at most 3 months from the end of the reference week. As active methods of job search are considered the following: - contacting a public employment office in order to find work; - contacting a private employment agency to find a job; - contacting employers directly; - asking friends, relatives, or acquaintances; - placing or answering job advertisements; - studying job advertisements; - taking a recruitment test or examination or being interviewed; - placing or updating CVs online; - making preparations to set up a business. Labour force (economically active population) comprises all employed and unemployed persons. Activity rate (Participation rate) - the number of persons in the labour force (economically active population) as percentage of the total population. Employment rate - the number of employed persons as percentage of the total population. Unemployment rate - the number of unemployed persons as percentage of the labour force (economically active population). Duration of unemployment is the duration of the search for employment or the length of the period since leaving last job, whichever period is shorter. Long-term unemployed persons are persons who have been unemployed for one or more years. Long-term unemployment rate - long-term unemployed persons as percentage of the economically active population (labour force). Persons not in the labour force (inactive population) are persons who were neither employed, nor unemployed during the reference period (incl. all persons aged below 15 or above 89 completed years). Discouraged persons are persons not in the labour force aged 15 - 74 years who want to work but are not actively looking for job, because they do not believe they will find suitable job. Working time. Distinction between full-time and part-time work is made according to the subjective declaration of the respondents. The number of actual working hours per week refers to the main job, incl. paid or unpaid overtime. Professional status. According to the professional status the employed persons are classified in the following categories: employers - persons who work in their own enterprise, business, farm, professional practice and employ at least one other person; self-employed - persons who work in their own enterprise, business, farm, professional practice and do not employ any other person; employees - persons who work for a public or private employer and who receive wages (salaries), fees, remuneration by civil contract etc.; unpaid family workers - persons who work without pay in an enterprise, farm, owned and operated by a family member. Economic activity. Economic activity is defined by the type of production or services provided by the local units of an enterprise, where a person works. Employed persons are classified by economic activity according to the NACE.BG 2008. Aggregated economic activity groupings according to nomenclature A21 are used. Economic sectors. The employed are classified by economic sectors through aggregation of the economic activity grouping as follows: The Agriculture and forestry sector includes Agriculture, hunting, forestry and Fishing; The Industry sector includes Mining and quarrying, Manufacturing, Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities, Construction; The Service sector includes all other economic activities. Occupations. Occupation is defined by the type of work that the person carries out on the main job during the reference week. Employed persons are classified by occupation according to the National Classification of Occupations and Duties-2011 (1^st digit - occupational class), comparable to the International Standard Classification of Occupations - ISCO-08.
Statistical unit	Persons
Statistical population	Total population usually residing in Bulgaria, except persons living in collective households.
Reference area	The whole territory of Republic of Bulgaria.
Time coverage	First quarter 2003 - first quarter 2025
Base period	Not applicable
Unit of measure
Most results measure number of persons in thousands and the rates - in %. The duration of actual working time is presented in hours.
Reference period
For every person in the sample the reference period is one calendar week (from Monday to Sunday). Within each quarter the sample is evenly spread over the all 13 calendar weeks.
Institutional mandate
Legal acts and other agreements	The concepts and definitions applied in the Labour Force Survey are in line with: Recommendations of the International Labour Organisation; European Union legislation: Until 2020: Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 of 9 March 1998 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community; Commission Regulation (EC) No 1897/2000 of 7 September 2000 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community concerning the operational definition of unemployment; Regulation (EC) No 2257/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2003 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community to adapt the list of survey characteristics; Regulation (EC) No 1372/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community; Commission Regulation (EC) No 377/2008 of 25 April 2008 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community as regards the codification to be used for data transmission from 2009 onwards, the use of a sub-sample for the collection of data on structural variables and the definition of the reference quarters; Regulation (EU) No 545/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community. From 2021: Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 October 2019 establishing a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples, amending Regulations (EC) No 808/2004, (EC) No 452/2008 and (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1177/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98; Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2240 of 16 December 2019 specifying the technical items of the data set, establishing the technical formats for transmission of information and specifying the detailed arrangements and content of the quality reports on the organisation of a sample survey in the labour force domain in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council; Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2180 of 16 December 2019 specifying the detailed arrangements and content for the quality reports pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council; Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2181 of 16 December 2019 specifying technical characteristics as regards items common to several datasets pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council. Law on Statistics.
Data sharing	Not applicable
Confidentiality
Confidentiality - policy	Law on Statistics; Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics (provision 24 and Article 20 (4)) (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the necessity to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
Confidentiality - data treatment	In accordance with Article 25 of the Law on Statistics Individual data are not published. Dissemination of individual data is possible only in accordance with Article 26 of the Law on Statistics. Individual anonymous data provided for the purposes of scientific research do not contain any administrative data as personal information and address and do not allow direct identification. Additional aggregation of data is performed for some of the variables.
Release policy
Release calendar	Data from the Labour Force Survey are published according to the Release Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys carried out by the National Statistical Institute. The main LFS results are disseminated quarterly by press release and on the NSI website.
Release calendar access	The calendar is available on the NSI website: https://www.nsi.bg/en/node/480
User access	Data are disseminated on the NSI website, section Labour Market and information system INFOSTAT, in accordance with the Law on Statistics and European Statistics Code of Practice respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. Accessibility of all users to statistical data and equality of their rights are stipulated in the Regulation for dissemination of statistical products and services by the National Statistical Institute.
Frequency of dissemination
Quarterly
Accessibility and clarity
News release	Press release for the main Labour Force Survey results is posted on the NSI website (https://www.nsi.bg/en) each quarter according to the Release Calendar.
Publications	None
On-line database	Detailed quarterly Labour Force Survey results are available to all users of the NSI website under the heading Labour Market, Labour Force Survey, Quarterly data: https://www.nsi.bg/en/node/6473 and through the information system INFOSTAT https://infostat.nsi.bg/infostat/pages/module.jsf?x_2=94
Micro-data access	Individual anonymous micro-data could be provided for scientific and research purposes by individual request according to the 'Rules of for provision of anonymised individual data for scientific and research purposes of the National Statistical Institute'.
Other	An information service could be provided by request, according to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services of the National Statistical Institute.
Documentation on methodology	Methodology of Labour force survey: https://www.nsi.bg/sites/default/files/files/metadata/LFS_Methodology_EN.pdf Interviewers' instructions.
Quality documentation	ESS Standard for Quality Reports Structure (ESQRS) https://www.nsi.bg/en/node/15278
Quality management
Quality assurance	Assurance of quality of Labour Force Survey in accordance with Quality management policy and Quality management programme of NSI.
Quality assessment	LFS Quality Report containing information of different quality aspects is prepared each year. Main quality indicators as standard errors, coefficients of variation, non-response rate and other are calculated quarterly.
Relevance
User needs	The main users of LFS statistical data are: International organisations: - European Commission - DG Employment and other Directorates - Eurostat - Labour Market unit and other units - European Central Bank - OECD - International Labour Organisation - UNESCO - UNICEF National users: - Ministries and State agencies - Bulgarian National Bank - Trade Unions - Employers' organisations - Non-governmental organisations - Research institutions - Companies, agencies - for own marketing researches or consultancy activities.
User satisfaction	Not available.
Completeness	The national Labour Force Survey implements the full set of compulsory variables, according to EU Regulations.
Accuracy and reliability
Overall accuracy	The sample used for the Labour Force Survey is a two-stage stratified cluster sample, which includes about 19.6 thousand households (about 0.65% sampling rate). Due to the sampling approach used, the estimates of the parameters obtained from the survey could vary from their values in the population due to sampling errors, errors due to non-response, errors in registration or processing etc.
Sampling error	Coefficients of variation (relative standard errors) and confidence intervals (i.e. the range of values that 95% of times would capture the true value in the population) are calculated for assessment of stochastic reliability of the estimates for main indicators.
Non-sampling error
Timeliness and punctuality
Timeliness	The main LFS results are released about 45 calendar days after the end of the reference quarter.
Punctuality	The LFS results are released strictly to the Release Calendar.
Coherence and comparability

Comparability - geographical	Comparability across EU Member States is considered high due to use of harmonised concepts, variables, definitions and classifications.
Comparability - over time	Since the beginning of 2003 a quarterly continuous Labour Force Survey which provides quarterly and annual estimates has been implemented. From the same year the harmonised definition of unemployment in accordance with Commission Regulation No 1897/2000 has been applied. In the first quarter of 2012 a new weighting procedure was introduced in the Labour Force Survey which should be taken into account in use of LFS data. The main differences were the following: the number of age groups at national level for which the consistence between LFS estimates and current population estimates is achieved increased (from 4 to 14); population data used in LFS weighting procedure exclude population living in institutional households (which are not covered by the survey). The discrepancy between current population estimates (used for initial quarterly LFS estimates in 2010 and 2011) and the data from the Population Census as of 1 February 2011 has also an impact over the comparability of LFS data. Due to availability of new population estimates based on 2011 Population Census and changes in the weighting procedure revised LFS estimates for 2010 and 2011 are produced and published at the NSI website. In consequence, the revised data for 2010 are not fully comparable with those for previous years. Similarly, quarterly data for 2021 and 2022 have been revised due to the availability of population estimates based on the 2021 Census. In the first quarter of 2021 certain changes in the methodology of the Labour Force Survey have been implemented in line with the Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of European Parliament and of the Council establishing a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples, and subsequent implementing regulations in the field of labour force statistics. These changes concern mainly employment and unemployment definitions, some of them are the following: Persons on leave for looking after a child of one to two years of age who are receiving fixed compensation during that leave, are considered employed (they used to be considered economically inactive persons up to the end of 2020); Persons on an unpaid parental leave for looking after a child of two to eight years of age are considered employed only if the one time duration of using that leave is at most three months. All persons on this kind of leave used to be considered employed up to 2020. Persons who are absent from work due to reasons other than holidays, illness, accident or paid maternity and parental leave are considered employed only if the expected duration of this absence is 3 months or less (even they are being partially compensated); Persons who produce agricultural goods for self-consumption are excluded from the employed person’s category even if they satisfy their household’s main consumption needs by that production. Employed are considered only persons growing agricultural produce, which main part is intended for sale or barter. Due to the changes in the methodology of the Labour Force Survey, the quarterly data of 2021 are not fully comparable with those for previous years.
Coherence - cross domain	Coherence with population data The LFS uses the latest available population estimates (by age, place of residence, age group and districts) to gross up sample results. Since 2012 population data used for LFS estimates excluded persons living in collective households (which are out of scope of the survey). Coherence with employment estimates in National Accounts National Accounts (NA) use different data sources which are combined to obtain the best comprehensive and consistent estimates. In results National Accounts data could differ from the results of each source. For Bulgaria the main difference between LFS and NA refers to Agricultural employment. In the estimation of self-employment in agriculture NA use data based on Agricultural Census and sample surveys, carried out by Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. NA employment data are based on domestic concept (employment in resident production units irrespective of the place of residence of the employee) while LFS gives information on the national concept (i.e. resident employed). LFS does not cover persons living in collective households which are included in NA employment estimates. Coherence with Annual and Quarterly Surveys on employees, hours worked, wages and salaries and other expenditures paid by the employer The main methodological difference between the two surveys is the coverage of employed persons. The surveys on employee, hours worked, wages and salaries and other expenditures paid by the employer provides data on persons who work under employment contract according to the Labour Code or the State Officials Act, while the Labour Force Survey covers also persons employed by other type of contract or without formal contract as well as self employed persons (employers, own account workers and unpaid family workers). The published data on employees by labour contract do not include defence and public security activities. The existed differences in terms of survey units, reference periods, modes of classifying by economic activities (register/description given by the respondents), principles of territorial allocation (by place of work/by place of living) also influenced on the comparability of results from the surveys. Coherence with registered unemployment data The main methodological differences between the LFS data on unemployment and data on registered unemployment provided by National Employment Agency are the following: According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition applied in Labour Force Survey, unemployed are considered not only and not all persons, registered in employment offices, but also those who are looking for job using other active methods: by private employment agencies, direct application to employers, assistance from friends or relatives, placing, answering or studying job advertisements, placing or updating CVs online etc. The registration itself is not regarded as active method but the contact with an employment agency with a purpose to find job. In contrast to registered unemployed, students and pensioners who are actively looking for work and are available for work are considered as unemployed in LFS. The data on economically active population used as denominator for the calculation of unemployment rate is different - in LFS economically active population consists of employed and unemployed persons, as estimated through the same survey, while for calculation of registered unemployment rate, Population Census data for economically active population is being used.
Coherence - internal	Some of the totals (rows and columns) in tables are not equal to the sum of their components because of the rounding of figures.
Cost and burden
The average duration of LFS interview is about 15 minutes per person. The individual duration of an interview depends on the labour status of person and survey wave.
Data revision
Data revision - policy	Revisions of previously released data are usually not performed. By exception revisions may happen after new estimates of population from a population census became available.
Data revision - practice	Revised data with population estimates based on the 2011 Census and the 2021 Census have been published at the NSI website.
Statistical processing
Source data	Source of data is Labour Force Survey, carried out over a sample of 19.6 thousand households.
Frequency of data collection	Quarterly
Data collection	Data are collected through questionnaire and personal interview with members of the selected households. Questions on labour market participation are asked to persons aged 15 - 89 years.
Data validation	Plausibility checks are executed during the data entry. Additional consistency checks are carried out before publishing of data.
Data compilation	The filling in questionnaires and initial control are carried out by the NSI regional units. After receiving them in the NSI, additional control and weighting are performed. Data are aggregated by different variables (characteristics), tabulated and prepared for dissemination.
Adjustment	Not applied.
Comment

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Download in SDMX 2.0 file format: Labour Force Survey - Labour Force Survey - quarterly data

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ESS Standard for Quality Reports Structure (ESQRS)

Labour Force Survey - Labour Force Survey - quarterly data

Contact

Contact organisation

National Statistical Institute

Contact organisation unit

Labour Force Statistics Department

Contact name

Tsveta Kostova - Sevastiyanova

Stanislava Statkova

Daniela Marinkova

Tsvetanka Zivripanova

Vladimir Stanoykov

Contact person function

Head of department

State expert

Chief expert

Junior expert

Contact mail address

2, P. Volov Str., 1038 Sofia, Bulgaria

Contact email address

Contact phone number

(+359 2) 9857 619

(+359 2) 9857 664

(+359 2) 9857 132

(+359 2) 9857 469

(+359 2) 9857 549

Contact fax number

Statistical presentation

Data description

Quarterly data from the Labour force survey

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a sample statistical survey carried out through households. The main purpose of the survey is to provide data on labour status of population aged 15 years and over and on the main characteristics of employed, unemployed and persons out of labour force in the Republic of Bulgaria.

Classification system

The classifications applied in the Labour Force Survey are harmonised with the international classifications in terms of economic activities, occupations, levels of education. The main classifications used are the following:

International Standard Classification of Education, 1997 version (ISCED 1997) - until the end of 2013;
International Standard Classification of Education, 2011 version (ISCED 2011) - since the beginning of 2014;
Classification of Economic Activities (CEA-2008, for international use NACE.BG 2008) - since 2008;
National Classification of Occupations and Duties-2005 (NCOD-2005) (1st digit - occupational class), comparable to the International Standard Classification of Occupations - ISCO '88 - until the end of 2010;
National Classification of Occupations and Duties-2011 (NCOD-2011) (1st digit - occupational class), comparable to the International Standard Classification of Occupations - ISCO '08 - since the beginning of 2011;
International classification of professional status - ICSE-93;
Classification of Territorial Units for Statistical Purposes in Bulgaria - NUTS.

Sector coverage

All members of the selected non-institutional households are covered. The questions on labour market participation are asked to persons aged 15 - 89 years.

Statistical concepts and definitions

The Labour Force Survey provides estimates for the main characteristics of labour market as employment, unemployment, inactivity, occupations, economic activities, working time and other, as well as social-demographic characteristics as sex, age, place of residence (urban/rural), education etc.

The main definitions applied in the survey are in accordance with the recommendation of International Labour Organisation and EU legislation.

Employed persons are persons aged 15 - 89 years who during the reference period:

performed some work for at least one hour for pay in cash or in kind or other income;
did not work but had a job or an enterprise, a business from which they were temporarily absent due to following reasons:

- holidays, illness, maternity or paternity leave, working time arrangement;

- participation in job-related training;

- off-season, where persons continue to regularly perform tasks and duties for the job or business, excluding fulfilment of legal or administrative obligations;

- other absence (incl. unpaid parental leave for taking care of a child between 2 and 8 years of age), where the expected duration of this absence is 3 month or less.

Persons that produce agricultural goods are considered employed if the main part of these products is intended for sale or barter.

Unemployed persons are persons aged 15 - 74 who were not employed during the reference week, according to the above definition, and

were currently available for work, i.e. were available for paid employment or self-employment before the end of the 2 weeks following the reference week; and
were actively seeking work in the four-week period ending with the reference week or found a job to start within a period of at most 3 months from the end of the reference week.

As active methods of job search are considered the following:

- contacting a public employment office in order to find work;

- contacting a private employment agency to find a job;

- contacting employers directly;

- asking friends, relatives, or acquaintances;

- placing or answering job advertisements;

- studying job advertisements;

- taking a recruitment test or examination or being interviewed;

- placing or updating CVs online;

- making preparations to set up a business.

Labour force (economically active population) comprises all employed and unemployed persons.

Activity rate (Participation rate) - the number of persons in the labour force (economically active population) as percentage of the total population.

Employment rate - the number of employed persons as percentage of the total population.

Unemployment rate - the number of unemployed persons as percentage of the labour force (economically active population).

Duration of unemployment is the duration of the search for employment or the length of the period since leaving last job, whichever period is shorter.

Long-term unemployed persons are persons who have been unemployed for one or more years.

Long-term unemployment rate - long-term unemployed persons as percentage of the economically active population (labour force).

Persons not in the labour force (inactive population) are persons who were neither employed, nor unemployed during the reference period (incl. all persons aged below 15 or above 89 completed years).

Discouraged persons are persons not in the labour force aged 15 - 74 years who want to work but are not actively looking for job, because they do not believe they will find suitable job.

Working time. Distinction between full-time and part-time work is made according to the subjective declaration of the respondents.

The number of actual working hours per week refers to the main job, incl. paid or unpaid overtime.

Professional status. According to the professional status the employed persons are classified in the following categories:

employers - persons who work in their own enterprise, business, farm, professional practice and employ at least one other person;
self-employed - persons who work in their own enterprise, business, farm, professional practice and do not employ any other person;
employees - persons who work for a public or private employer and who receive wages (salaries), fees, remuneration by civil contract etc.;
unpaid family workers - persons who work without pay in an enterprise, farm, owned and operated by a family member.

Economic activity. Economic activity is defined by the type of production or services provided by the local units of an enterprise, where a person works. Employed persons are classified by economic activity according to the NACE.BG 2008. Aggregated economic activity groupings according to nomenclature A21 are used.

Economic sectors. The employed are classified by economic sectors through aggregation of the economic activity grouping as follows:

The Agriculture and forestry sector includes Agriculture, hunting, forestry and Fishing;
The Industry sector includes Mining and quarrying, Manufacturing, Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities, Construction;
The Service sector includes all other economic activities.

Occupations. Occupation is defined by the type of work that the person carries out on the main job during the reference week. Employed persons are classified by occupation according to the National Classification of Occupations and Duties-2011 (1^st digit - occupational class), comparable to the International Standard Classification of Occupations - ISCO-08.

Statistical unit

Persons

Statistical population

Total population usually residing in Bulgaria, except persons living in collective households.

Reference area

The whole territory of Republic of Bulgaria.

Time coverage

First quarter 2003 - first quarter 2025

Base period

Not applicable

Statistical processing

Source data

Source of data is Labour Force Survey, carried out over a sample of 19.6 thousand households.

Frequency of data collection

Quarterly

Data collection

Data are collected through questionnaire and personal interview with members of the selected households. Questions on labour market participation are asked to persons aged 15 - 89 years.

Data validation

Plausibility checks are executed during the data entry. Additional consistency checks are carried out before publishing of data.

Data compilation

The filling in questionnaires and initial control are carried out by the NSI regional units. After receiving them in the NSI, additional control and weighting are performed. Data are aggregated by different variables (characteristics), tabulated and prepared for dissemination.

Adjustment

Not applied.

Quality management

Quality assurance

Assurance of quality of Labour Force Survey in accordance with Quality management policy and Quality management programme of NSI.

Quality assessment

LFS Quality Report containing information of different quality aspects is prepared each year.

Main quality indicators as standard errors, coefficients of variation, non-response rate and other are calculated quarterly.

Relevance

User needs

The main users of LFS statistical data are:

International organisations:

- European Commission - DG Employment and other Directorates

- Eurostat - Labour Market unit and other units

- European Central Bank

- OECD

- International Labour Organisation

- UNESCO

- UNICEF

National users:

- Ministries and State agencies

- Bulgarian National Bank

- Trade Unions

- Employers' organisations

- Non-governmental organisations

- Research institutions

- Companies, agencies - for own marketing researches or consultancy activities.

User satisfaction

Not available.

Completeness

The national Labour Force Survey implements the full set of compulsory variables, according to EU Regulations.

Data completeness - rate

The national Labour Force Survey implements the full set of compulsory variables, according to EU Regulations.

Accuracy and reliability

Overall accuracy

The sample used for the Labour Force Survey is a two-stage stratified cluster sample, which includes about 19.6 thousand households (about 0.65% sampling rate). Due to the sampling approach used, the estimates of the parameters obtained from the survey could vary from their values in the population due to sampling errors, errors due to non-response, errors in registration or processing etc.

Sampling error

Coefficients of variation (relative standard errors) and confidence intervals (i.e. the range of values that 95% of times would capture the true value in the population) are calculated for assessment of stochastic reliability of the estimates for main indicators.

Sampling errors - indicators

	Number of employed persons Age group: 20 - 64	Employment rate Age group: 20 - 64	Number of unemployed persons	Unemployment rate as a percentage of labour force	Youth unemployment rate as a percentage of labour force Age group: 15 -24
Estimate	2794.0	76.5	116.7	3.9	10.5
Coefficient of variation - %	1.2	1.2	5.9	5.7	16.0
Standard error	32.5	0.9	6.8	0.2	1.7
Confidence interval	2730.3; 2857.8	74.8; 78.2	103.3; 130.1	3.4; 4.3	7.2; 13.8

Data for the first quarter 2025.

Non-sampling error

Coverage error

Over-coverage - rate

12.2% (first quarter 2025)

Common units - proportion

Measurement error

Non response error

Rate of non-response - %¹

Тotal	29.8
By reason:
Refusals	4.5
Non-contacts	24.3
Other	1.0

¹Non-occupied dwelings are not included in the calculation on non-response rate.

Data for the first quarter 2025.

Unit non-response - rate

Item non-response - rate

Processing error

Imputation - rate

Model assumption error

Seasonal adjustment

Not applied.

Data revision - policy

Revisions of previously released data are usually not performed. By exception revisions may happen after new estimates of population from a population census became available.

Data revision - practice

Revised data with population estimates based on the 2011 Census and the 2021 Census have been published at the NSI website.

Data revision - average size

Timeliness and punctuality

Timeliness

The main LFS results are released about 45 calendar days after the end of the reference quarter.

Time lag - first results

Time lag - final results

The main LFS results are released about 45 calendar days after the end of the reference quarter.

Punctuality

The LFS results are released strictly to the Release Calendar.

Punctuality - delivery and publication

The LFS results are released strictly to the Release Calendar.

Coherence and comparability

Comparability - geographical

Comparability across EU Member States is considered high due to use of harmonised concepts, variables, definitions and classifications.

Asymmetry for mirror flows statistics - coefficient

Not applicable.

Comparability - over time

Since the beginning of 2003 a quarterly continuous Labour Force Survey which provides quarterly and annual estimates has been implemented. From the same year the harmonised definition of unemployment in accordance with Commission Regulation No 1897/2000 has been applied.

In the first quarter of 2012 a new weighting procedure was introduced in the Labour Force Survey which should be taken into account in use of LFS data. The main differences were the following:

the number of age groups at national level for which the consistence between LFS estimates and current population estimates is achieved increased (from 4 to 14);
population data used in LFS weighting procedure exclude population living in institutional households (which are not covered by the survey).

The discrepancy between current population estimates (used for initial quarterly LFS estimates in 2010 and 2011) and the data from the Population Census as of 1 February 2011 has also an impact over the comparability of LFS data. Due to availability of new population estimates based on 2011 Population Census and changes in the weighting procedure revised LFS estimates for 2010 and 2011 are produced and published at the NSI website.

In consequence, the revised data for 2010 are not fully comparable with those for previous years.

Similarly, quarterly data for 2021 and 2022 have been revised due to the availability of population estimates based on the 2021 Census.

In the first quarter of 2021 certain changes in the methodology of the Labour Force Survey have been implemented in line with the Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of European Parliament and of the Council establishing a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples, and subsequent implementing regulations in the field of labour force statistics. These changes concern mainly employment and unemployment definitions, some of them are the following:

Persons on leave for looking after a child of one to two years of age who are receiving fixed compensation during that leave, are considered employed (they used to be considered economically inactive persons up to the end of 2020);
Persons on an unpaid parental leave for looking after a child of two to eight years of age are considered employed only if the one time duration of using that leave is at most three months. All persons on this kind of leave used to be considered employed up to 2020.
Persons who are absent from work due to reasons other than holidays, illness, accident or paid maternity and parental leave are considered employed only if the expected duration of this absence is 3 months or less (even they are being partially compensated);
Persons who produce agricultural goods for self-consumption are excluded from the employed person’s category even if they satisfy their household’s main consumption needs by that production. Employed are considered only persons growing agricultural produce, which main part is intended for sale or barter.

Due to the changes in the methodology of the Labour Force Survey, the quarterly data of 2021 are not fully comparable with those for previous years.

Length of comparable time series

Coherence - cross domain

Coherence with population data

The LFS uses the latest available population estimates (by age, place of residence, age group and districts) to gross up sample results. Since 2012 population data used for LFS estimates excluded persons living in collective households (which are out of scope of the survey).

Coherence with employment estimates in National Accounts

National Accounts (NA) use different data sources which are combined to obtain the best comprehensive and consistent estimates. In results National Accounts data could differ from the results of each source. For Bulgaria the main difference between LFS and NA refers to Agricultural employment. In the estimation of self-employment in agriculture NA use data based on Agricultural Census and sample surveys, carried out by Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry.

NA employment data are based on domestic concept (employment in resident production units irrespective of the place of residence of the employee) while LFS gives information on the national concept (i.e. resident employed).

LFS does not cover persons living in collective households which are included in NA employment estimates.

Coherence with Annual and Quarterly Surveys on employees, hours worked, wages and salaries and other expenditures paid by the employer

The main methodological difference between the two surveys is the coverage of employed persons. The surveys on employee, hours worked, wages and salaries and other expenditures paid by the employer provides data on persons who work under employment contract according to the Labour Code or the State Officials Act, while the Labour Force Survey covers also persons employed by other type of contract or without formal contract as well as self employed persons (employers, own account workers and unpaid family workers). The published data on employees by labour contract do not include defence and public security activities.

The existed differences in terms of survey units, reference periods, modes of classifying by economic activities (register/description given by the respondents), principles of territorial allocation (by place of work/by place of living) also influenced on the comparability of results from the surveys.

Coherence with registered unemployment data

The main methodological differences between the LFS data on unemployment and data on registered unemployment provided by National Employment Agency are the following:

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition applied in Labour Force Survey, unemployed are considered not only and not all persons, registered in employment offices, but also those who are looking for job using other active methods: by private employment agencies, direct application to employers, assistance from friends or relatives, placing, answering or studying job advertisements, placing or updating CVs online etc. The registration itself is not regarded as active method but the contact with an employment agency with a purpose to find job.
In contrast to registered unemployed, students and pensioners who are actively looking for work and are available for work are considered as unemployed in LFS.
The data on economically active population used as denominator for the calculation of unemployment rate is different - in LFS economically active population consists of employed and unemployed persons, as estimated through the same survey, while for calculation of registered unemployment rate, Population Census data for economically active population is being used.

Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics

The yearly LFS data are calculated as average of the four quarters of the respective year.

Coherence - National Accounts

Coherence with employment estimates in National Accounts

National Accounts use different data sources which are combined to obtain the best comprehensive and consistent estimate. In results National Accounts data could differ from the results of each source. For Bulgaria the main difference between LFS and NA refers to Agricultural employment. In the estimation of self-employment in agriculture NA use data based on Agricultural Census and sample surveys, carried out by Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry.

LFS does not cover persons living in collective households.

Coherence - internal

Some of the totals (rows and columns) in tables are not equal to the sum of their components because of the rounding of figures.

Accessibility and clarity

News release

Press release for the main Labour Force Survey results is posted on the NSI website (https://www.nsi.bg/en) each quarter according to the Release Calendar.

Publications

None

On-line database

Detailed quarterly Labour Force Survey results are available to all users of the NSI website under the heading Labour Market, Labour Force Survey, Quarterly data: https://www.nsi.bg/en/node/6473 and through the information system INFOSTAT https://infostat.nsi.bg/infostat/pages/module.jsf?x_2=94

Data tables - consultations

Micro-data access

Individual anonymous micro-data could be provided for scientific and research purposes by individual request according to the 'Rules of for provision of anonymised individual data for scientific and research purposes of the National Statistical Institute'.

Other

An information service could be provided by request, according to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services of the National Statistical Institute.

Metadata - consultations

Documentation on methodology

Methodology of Labour force survey: https://www.nsi.bg/sites/default/files/files/metadata/LFS_Methodology_EN.pdf
Interviewers' instructions.

Metadata completeness – rate

Quality documentation

ESS Standard for Quality Reports Structure (ESQRS)

https://www.nsi.bg/en/node/15278

Cost and burden

The average duration of LFS interview is about 15 minutes per person. The individual duration of an interview depends on the labour status of person and survey wave.

Confidentiality

Confidentiality - policy

Law on Statistics;
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics (provision 24 and Article 20 (4)) (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the necessity to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Confidentiality – data treatment

In accordance with Article 25 of the Law on Statistics Individual data are not published. Dissemination of individual data is possible only in accordance with Article 26 of the Law on Statistics.

Individual anonymous data provided for the purposes of scientific research do not contain any administrative data as personal information and address and do not allow direct identification. Additional aggregation of data is performed for some of the variables.

Comment

Download in SDMX 2.1 file format: Labour Force Survey - Labour Force Survey - quarterly data

Metadata Structure Definition in SDMX 2.1: ESQRS_MSD+BNSI+2.0+SDMX.2.1.xml

Download in SDMX 2.0 file format: Labour Force Survey - Labour Force Survey - quarterly data

Metadata Structure Definition in SDMX 2.0: ESQRS_MSD+BNSI+2.0+SDMX.2.0.xml

Main Labour Force Survey Results, First Quarter of 2025

Wednesday, 21 May 2025 - 11:00

According to the results from the Labour Force Survey, in the first quarter of 2025:

- The unemployment rate was 3.9%, by 1.1 percentage points lower compared to the first quarter of 2024;

- The employment rate of the population aged 15 - 64 increased by 0.2 percentage points in comparison with the same quarter of 2024 and stood at 70.4%;

- The activity rate of the population aged 15 - 64 was 73.3%, by 0.7 percentage points lower compared to the first quarter of 2024.

The data are from the Labour Force Survey - a sample statistical survey. It is carri...

LFS2025q1_en_XW91M42.pdf

Employees under Labour Contract and Gross Average Wages and Salaries, First Quarter of 2025

Thursday, 15 May 2025 - 11:00

The Number of employees at the end of March 2025 increased by 1.7%, compared to the end of December 2024, and reached 2.35 million. In the first quarter of 2025, the average wages and salaries was 2 443 BGN, increasing by 1.2% compared to the fourth quarter of 2024.

...

EmplsSalary2025q1_en_VL1KWH4.pdf

Labour Force Survey 2024, Main Results

Friday, 14 March 2025 - 11:00

According to the results of the Labour Force Survey, in 2024:

- The unemployment rate was 4.2%, by 0.1 percentage points lower compared to 2023.

- The employment rate of the population aged 15 - 64 increased by 0.2 percentage points in comparison with 2023 and stood at 70.9%.

- The activity rate of the population aged 15 - 64 was 74.0%, by 0.1 percentage points higher compared to 2023.

The data are from the Labour Force Survey - a sample statistical survey. It is carried out over a sample of non-institutional households. Quarterly, about 19.6 thousand...

LFS2024_en_W6DW6N1.pdf

Employees under Labour Contract and Gross Average Wages and Salaries, Fourth Quarter of 2024

Friday, 14 February 2025 - 11:00

Number of employees at the end of December 2024 decreased by 0.5%, compared to the end of September, and reached 2.31 million. In the fourth quarter of 2024, the average wages and salaries was 2 413 BGN, increasing by 6.1% compared to the third quarter.

...

EmplsSalary2024q4_en_UP1AG32.pdf

Main Labour Force Survey Results, Fourth Quarter of 2024

Friday, 14 February 2025 - 11:00

According to the results from the Labour Force Survey, in the fourth quarter of 2024:

- The unemployment rate was 3.8%, by 0.4 percentage points lower compared to the fourth quarter of 2023;

- The employment rate of the population aged 15 - 64 increased by 0.2 percentage points in comparison with the same quarter of 2023 and stood at 70.7%;

- The activity rate of the population aged 15 - 64 was 73.6%, by 0.1 percentage points lower compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.

The data are from the Labour Force Survey - a sample statistical s...

LFS2024q4_en_UP1AG32.pdf

Pension and Labour market participation - Module to the Labour Force Survey in 2023

Monday, 16 December 2024 - 12:40

The National Statistical Institute has published data from the LFS module 2023 “Pension and labour market participation”, covering persons aged 50 to 74 years inclusive. The survey was jointly financed by the NSI and by the European Commission.

According to the module results, 79.1% of people aged 50 - 74 stopped working after retirement, 16.7% continued working and 4.2% were not working at the time of retirement.

Of the persons who continued to work after retirement, 62.8% worked for financial reasons, 31.3% because they enjoyed working, being productive, or being ...

Employees Under Labour Contract and Gross Average Wages and Salaries in 2023

Friday, 29 November 2024 - 11:00

The number of employees under labour contract in 2023 increased by 24.1 thousand, or by 1.1%, as compared to 2022 and reached 2.30 million according to the final data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI).

The average annual gross wages and salaries of the employees under labour contract in 2023 amounted to 24 485 BGN and increased by 15.3% compared to 2022.

...

EmplsSalary2023_en_6B1HNUM.pdf

Main Labour Force Survey Results, Third Quarter of 2024

Friday, 15 November 2024 - 11:00

According to the results from the Labour Force Survey, in the third quarter of 2024:

- The unemployment rate was 3.6%, by 0.4 percentage points lower compared to the third quarter of 2023;

- The employment rate of the population aged 15 - 64 increased by 0.2 percentage points in comparison with the same quarter of 2023 and stood at 71.7%;

- The activity rate of the population aged 15 - 64 was 74.4%, by 0.2 percentage points lower compared to the third quarter of 2023.

The data are from the Labour Force Survey - a sample statistical surv...

LFS2024q3_en_UWP2KEQ.pdf

Employees under Labour Contract and Gross Average Wages and Salaries, Third Quarter of 2024

Wednesday, 13 November 2024 - 11:00

The number of employees under labour contract at the end of September 2024 decreased by 22.8 thousand, or 1.0%, as compared to the end of June 2024 and reached 2.33 million according to the preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI). The highest decrease was observed in the economic activities: ‘Accommodation and food service activities’ - by 11.5%, ‘Agriculture, forestry and fishing’ - by 3.2%, and ‘Arts, entertainment and recreation’ - by 2.8%. The highest increase of the number of employees - by 1.2% was recorded in the economic activity ‘Human health and social work ac...

EmplsSalary2024q3_en_XEOCGEN.pdf

Main Labour Force Survey Results, Second Quarter of 2024

Friday, 16 August 2024 - 11:00

According to the results of the Labour Force Survey, in the second quarter of 2024:

- The unemployment rate was 4.3%, by 0.3 percentage points lower compared to the second quarter of 2023;

- The employment rate of the population aged 15 - 64 increased by 0.7 percentage points in comparison with the same quarter of 2023 and stood at 71.0%;

- The activity rate of the population aged 15 - 64 was 74.1%, by 0.4 percentage points higher compared to the second quarter of 2023.

The data are from the Labour Force Survey - a sample statistical survey. It is car...

LFS2024q2_en_AULUS0Z.pdf

Key Indicators for Bulgaria (as of 03.04.2025)

Thursday, 3 April 2025 - 11:00

Key Indicators for Bulgaria (as of 03.04.2025)

...

Key Indicators for Bulgaria (as of 30.12.2024)

Monday, 30 December 2024 - 11:00

Key Indicators for Bulgaria (as of 30.12.2024)

...

Key Indicators for Bulgaria (as of 02.10.2024)

Wednesday, 2 October 2024 - 11:00

Key Indicators for Bulgaria (as of 02.10.2024)

...

Key Indicators for Bulgaria (as of 03.07.2024)

Wednesday, 3 July 2024 - 11:00

Key Indicators for Bulgaria (as of 03.07.2024)

...

Statistical Reference Book 2024

Monday, 24 June 2024 - 11:30

Тhe National Statistical Institute presents to the users of statistical information the annual publication - Statistical Reference Book 2024 in English.

The Statistical Reference Book presents up-to-date information on the demographic processes as well as the economic, social and cultural development of the Republic of Bulgaria for the 2019 - 2023 period.

The publication presents data on main macroeconomic indicators of the national economy - gross domestic product, investments and finance; and economic acti...

Statistical Reference Book 2024 (Bulgarian version)

Friday, 14 June 2024 - 12:00

The National Statistical Institute presents to users of statistical information the annual publication - Statistical Reference Book 2024 in Bulgarian.

The publication presents data on main macroeconomic indicators of the national economy - gross domestic product, investments and finance; and economic activity groupings - industry, agriculture, forestry,...

Statistical Yearbook 2023

Monday, 3 June 2024 - 10:00

The National Statistical Institute (NSI) has the pleasure to present to the attention of national and foreign users of statistical information the 91-st edition of the ‘Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Bulgaria’ in printed format.

It provides current statistical information about the demographic, economic and social development of the country for 2017 - 2022 in different territorial and classification aggregations and breakdowns.

According to the Law on Statistics, official source of information in the Republic of Bulgaria is the National Statistical Sys...