Sofia, July 8 (BTA) - The public social insurance budget spent
658.6 million leva on cash unemployment benefits in 2020, up by
234.1 million leva (55.1 per cent) from 2019, Bulgaria's
National Social Security Institute (NSSI) said in an expert
analysis released on Thursday.

The surge of this spending item resulted directly from impact of
 the pandemic on the labour market in the form of more layoffs
and more job centre registrations. The increase of unemployment
benefits from 9 to 12 leva a day and the extension of the
entitlement from four to seven months also contributed to the
development.

As the effect of the pandemic crisis varied from one economic
sector to another, the profile of unemployed people entitled to
benefits changed significantly, the analysis says.

According to the NSSI register, the number of people who were
granted cash unemployment benefits under the Social Insurance
Code grew from 146,233 in 2019 to 227,885 in 2020 (55.8 per
cent).
 
Among the jobless people entitled to cash benefits, that the
share of women was steadily larger, irrespective of the changes
in the absolute number of registered unemployed. The
male-to-female ratio was 42 to 58 in both 2019 and 2020. The
131,716 women entitled to cash unemployment benefits in 2020
were up by 57.5 per cent from the 83,605 in 2019. The number of
men increased by 53.5 per cent, from 62,408 in 2019 to 95,781 in
 2020. The reason is the lower labour force participation of
women and their prevalence in the services sector, which was hit
 hard by the restrictions. As a result, women are more at risk
of losing their job during a crisis, the analysis said.

The lasting trend for unemployment numbers to be highest in the
over-50 age groups persisted.

The capital Sofia had the largest number of cash unemployment
benefits recipients in 2020, which is a sign that its labour
market was the worst hit by the COVID crisis, the experts
commented.

The share of persons with secondary education entitled to cash
unemployment benefits was largest in both 2020 and 2019. They
accounted for 67.3 per cent of the total in 2020, up by 10.2
percentage points from 2019. Their number increased by 83.6 per
cent during the reference period. RY/DD/LG