Economic Crisis Makes 90,000 Bulgarians Jobless

Nearly 90,000 Bulgarians suffered from the large scale layoffs the global financial and economic crisis caused end last year, according to data of the National Statistical Institute. The number of employed in Bulgaria in July 2008 was 2.52 million while in December 2008 it went down to 2.43 million. The number of workers under regular labour contracts decreased particularly sharply in the last three months of 2008 - from October to December - when 2.4 percent of all working Bulgarians remained jobless. Construction was among the most heavily affected sectors as it had to part with 7.2 percent of its workers. Hotels and restaurants suffered even greater: they parted with 13,8 percent of their staff. Agriculture laborers decreased by 12,3 percent.