Unemployment in Bulgaria Falls to 8.9 % in October

The unemployment rate in Bulgaria has continued its gradual fall for an eighth consecutive month in October, reaching 8.9%, Labor Minister, Totyu Mladenov has announced.

In the same month, 334 671 was the total number of people registered in employment bureaus, Mladenov clarified. This indicates a drop by 4 300 in comparison to September.

According to the Labor Minister, the 2010 over-the-year unemployment rate will be 9.5%, which is approximately 2% lower than the initially expected 11.4% by the Bulgarian state budget.

After the Bulgarian unemployment rate peaked in February 2010 at 10.2%, it has been decreasing slowly but steadily in the last 8 months.

However, there has been a decrease in Bulgaria's employment, according to the National Statistic Institute (NSI).

"Nobody forces forces people with machine guns to register themselves in employment bureaus. We live in a democracy.", Minister Mladenov replied when asked about the information inconsistency between NSI and the Bulgarian Employment Agency.