Bulgaria has imported as many workers from third countries in the first six and a half months of 2026 as it did throughout the entire year of 2024, highlighting the growing labor shortage faced by businesses.
According to data from the Employment Agency provided by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy to Dnevnik, around 35,000 work permits have been issued to foreign workers from outside the European Union between January and mid-July 2026.
The scale of the increase is significant. The number of approved permits is roughly equal to the population of the regional city of Kyustendil and represents about one-third of all unemployed people in Bulgaria, based on official statistics.
Traditionally, around half of the permits issued for foreign workers are linked to seasonal employment. Most of these workers are employed in the tourism sector during the summer season and in agriculture during harvest periods.
The latest figures point to an accelerating dependence of Bulgarian employers on labor from third countries as companies struggle to find enough workers amid demographic pressures and shortages of both skilled and unskilled employees.
