Employees under labour contract and gross average wages and salaries, first quarter of 2021

According to the preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI) at the end of March 2021 the number of employees under labour contract increased by 34.4 thousand or 1.5% as compared to the end of December 2020 and reached 2.26 million.

The highest increase was observed in economic activities: ”Information and communication” - by 6.0%, “Agriculture, forestry and fishing” - by 5.2%, and in “Accommodation and food service activities” - by 4.4%.

The highest decrease of the number of employees was recorded in economic activities: “Mining and quarrying” - by 6.0% and “Administrative and support service activities” - by 2.2%.

In the structure of employees by economic activities the biggest relative share of employees was in “Manufacturing” - 21.2% and “Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles” - 17.0%.

At the end of March 2021 as compared to March 2020 the number of employees under labour contract decreased by 0.8 thousand. The highest decrease in absolute figures was observed in economic activities “Manufacturing” - 7.5 thousand, “Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles” - 5.6 thousand, and “Administrative and support service activities” - 5.2 thousand and the highest increase was in “Human health and social work activities”- 8.4 thousand and “Information and communication”- 7.1 thousand.

In percentages the highest decrease at the end of March 2021 as compared to March 2020 was in economic activity “Mining and quarrying” - by 8.3%, “Real estate activities” - by 7.6%, and in “Administrative and support service activities” - by 4.4%, as the highest increase was reported in “Information and communication” - by 7.0% and in “Human health and social work activities” - by 5.6%.

The average monthly wages and salaries of the employees under labour contract in January was 1 454 BGN, in February - 1 431 BGN and in March 2021 - 1 500 BGN.