Bulgaria continues to stand out in the European labor market for both its low unemployment and the high employment rate among young graduates. The country’s unemployment remains one of the lowest in the European Union, while a record proportion of recent university graduates quickly find work after completing their studies.
Eurostat data from December 2025 show that Bulgaria’s unemployment rate is 3.3%, significantly below the EU average, which is nearly double. Among European countries, the highest unemployment is recorded in Finland, Sweden, and Spain, with Spain seeing roughly 2.5 million people without work, amounting to nearly one in ten of its working-age population. France and Greece follow with unemployment above 7%, while Bulgaria has around 100,000 job seekers.
In terms of working hours, Bulgarians are among the most industrious in the EU. The average workweek across the EU is 36 hours, but in Bulgaria it reaches 37 hours, making the country second only to Greece for weekly hours worked. Poland and Romania follow closely, while the Dutch report the shortest week at 31 hours, though they compensate with longer working lives, averaging 44 years. Bulgarians, by contrast, spend around 35 years in the workforce, placing the country near the bottom of the EU ranking for total working life. This combination of longer weeks and shorter careers means Bulgarians work intensely over a relatively compressed span of years.
Young graduates in Bulgaria enjoy particularly strong employment prospects. Among those aged 20 to 34, 95.5% secure work within one to three years of completing higher education, well above the European average of 87%. Countries such as Greece and Italy present the most difficulty, where fewer than 80% of graduates quickly enter the labor market.
The demand for foreign labor in Bulgaria continues to grow. Over the past six years, more than 110,000 foreign workers have entered the country to fill seasonal and long-term roles. Peak inflows occurred between 2020 and 2024, with almost 35,000 arrivals in a single year, followed by a slight decrease to nearly 25,000 last year. Seasonal work dominates, particularly in tourism hotspots along the Black Sea coast and mountain resorts, with workers primarily from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey. Short-term contracts of up to 90 days involve over 4,000 workers, while long-term employment exceeds 1,000 individuals, mainly from Turkey, North Macedonia, and India. Additionally, 72 people from Serbia, Moldova, and Ukraine have obtained work based on Bulgarian heritage.
Foreign labor fills critical sectors in Bulgaria, including hospitality, agriculture, construction, factories, and transport services. Highly skilled professionals are employed in healthcare and IT, reflecting the country’s ongoing reliance on international expertise to support its labor market needs. (Novinite)