Unemployment in Bulgaria is currently at 9.89 per cent with a slight downward trend, compared with the
beginning of 2010 when it peaked to 10.26 per cent, Labour and Social Policy Minister Totyu Mladenov told a roundtable on Thursday.

The discussion focused on the impact of the economic downturn on families.

Some 30,000 unemployed people found jobs this year, Mladenov said. He added that he hoped the jobless rate would fall further due to the measures taken by the government, including an injection of 10 million leva into subsidized jobs in high-unemployment regions.

Mladenov also said it was important to make full use of money under Operational Programme Human Resources for training and support for businesses so as to
shorten the jobless spell.

Following a May 18 meeting of a monitoring committee on Operational Programme HR, new measures will be made available to people aged under 29, who will be able to do apprenticeship programmes in enterprises.

Mladenov also said that due to the Labour Inspectorate, 56 million leva had been paid in back wages in the last nine months.