Employees and average wages and salaries - Second quarter of 2025

The number of employees under labour contract at the end of June 2025 increased by 31.2 thousand, or 1.3%, as compared to the end of March 2025, and reached 2.38 million according to the preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI). The highest increase was observed in the economic activities: ‘Accommodation and food service activities’ - by 24.8%, ‘Real estate activities’ - by 3.5%, and ‘Agriculture, forestry and fishing’ - by 2.4%.

At the end of June 2025, as compared to June 2024, the number of employees under labour contract increased by 36.2 thousand, or 1.5%. The highest increase in absolute figures was observed in economic activities ‘Human health and social work activities’ - by 11.7 thousand, ‘Construction’ - by 7.8 thousand, and ‘Accommodation and food service activities’ - by 5.4 thousand, and the highest decrease was in ‘Manufacturing’ - by 9.9 thousand, and in ‘Agriculture, forestry and fishing’ - by 3.0 thousand. In percentages, the highest increase at the end of June 2025 as compared to June 2024 was in economic activity ‘Construction’ and ‘Human health and social work activities’ - both by 6.0%, and in ‘Arts, entertainment and recreation’ - by 5.9%, as the highest decrease was reported in ‘Agriculture, forestry and fishing’ - by 4.3%, and in ‘Mining and quarrying’ - by 3.3%.

The average monthly wages and salaries of the employees under labour contract in April was 2 588 BGN, in May - 2 582 BGN, and in June 2025 - 2 547 BGN.

In the second quarter of 2025, in comparison with the first quarter of 2025, the average monthly wages and salaries increased by 5.3% and reached 2 572 BGN. The highest increase in wages and salaries was reported in: ‘Education’ - by 21.2%, ‘Public administration and defence; compulsory social security’ - by 17.9%, and in ‘Mining and quarrying’ - by 8.5%.

Compared to the second quarter of 2024, the average monthly wages and salaries in the second quarter of 2025 rose by 12.0%. The highest growth rates were recorded in the economic activities: ‘Education’ - by 19.1%, ‘Arts, entertainment and recreation’ - by 17.7%, and ‘Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities’ - by 16.0%.

The economic activities with the highest wages and salaries in the second quarter of 2025 were:

• ‘Information and communication’ - 5 551 BGN;
• ‘Financial and insurance activities’ - 3 763 BGN;
• ‘Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply’ - 3 592 BGN.

The lowest wages and salaries were recorded in:

• ‘Accommodation and food service activities’ - 1 581 BGN;
• ‘Agriculture, forestry and fishing’ - 1 688 BGN;
• ‘Other service activities’ - 1 780 BGN.

In comparison with a year earlier, the average monthly wages and salaries in the public sector grew by 13.8% and in the private sector - by 11.4%.

Methodological notes

The source of information is the ‘Quarterly Survey on employees, hours worked, wages and salaries, and other expenditures paid by the employer’. The main purpose of this sample survey is to make a study of the current state and dynamics of some main aspects of the labour market. The sample used for the survey is a stratified random sample without replacement. Stratification criteria used include: economic activity (NACE, Rev. 2), size of the enterprise (according to the number of employees) and regional breakdown (28 districts, NUTS3).

Annex