ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of the development of unemployment in Bulgaria since the beginning of transition. It explores aspects of the legislation system in the country and stresses the issues which are of considerable influence for the dynamics of the unemployment process. The aggregate data shows that the incidence of unemployment has varied considerably according to factors such as region, gender, and level of education. Analysis of rural unemployment in Bulgaria shows that long term unemployment often leads to the so called ‘discouraged worker’s effect’ among the peasants and a part of the rural population deliberately isolated themselves from the economically active population. The appearance of mass unemployment in Bulgaria happened very quickly and unfortunately reached an unexpectedly high level. The data set was prepared according to the OECD standards by the Bulgarian Ministry of Labour and is based on observations from several regional labor offices.
