The labor market continues to cool, with three sectors dragging it down

The cooling of Bulgaria’s labor market continued in July, with the number of job postings declining both compared to the previous month and on a year-over-year basis. The main challenges are in three of the largest sectors – hospitality and restaurants, manufacturing, and retail.

This is shown by data from the HR company and career site JobTiger, which covers job postings on the platforms monitored by the company and does not represent complete statistics for the entire labor market.

At the end of July, there were 35,204 active job postings – 2,697 fewer than in June. This represents a monthly decline of 7.1%. On a year-over-year basis, the decline is even more significant – 10.6%, or 4,164 fewer job postings compared to July 2025.

The data shows that the contraction is not solely the result of a one-time removal of old job postings. The number of active job openings has been gradually decreasing – from 37,855 at the beginning of July to 35,204 at the end of the month – which, according to JobTiger, confirms the ongoing cooling of the market.

This latest decline follows an already weak June. At that time, job postings fell by 8% compared to May – or by about 3,000 positions – and on a year-over-year basis, the decline reached 15%. This means that July’s results do not break the trend but extend it for yet another month.

The season is no longer boosting tourism

The largest monthly decline in July was recorded in “Hospitality and Restaurants.” Job postings in the sector fell by 958, or 18%, compared to June.

According to JobTiger, a possible explanation is that a large portion of seasonal hires for the summer tourism season were already completed in the spring and early summer. Thus, at the height of the season, hotels and restaurants are posting fewer new job openings, as their core teams are already in place.

However, this decline continues the unusually weak trend in the sector that began in June. At that time, job postings in the hospitality and restaurant sectors fell by 29% compared to May – a drop of nearly 2,200 openings – even though the summer months are traditionally a period of strong demand for employees.

This trend contrasts with April, when preparations for the summer season and the growth in seasonal positions managed to offset weaker demand in specialized sectors. Even then, however, the data indicated a realignment in the market, including a slowdown in IT positions and a decline in remote work.

Vacations and Renovations Slow Down Manufacturing

The second sector contributing most to the July decline is manufacturing. Job postings there fell by 654, or 9.1%, on a month-over-month basis.

JobTiger cites the upcoming collective vacations and planned maintenance at some companies in August as possible seasonal factors. These may temporarily delay hiring and the posting of new job openings.

However, the company emphasizes that the available data does not allow the entire decline to be explained solely by the vacation period. This leaves open the possibility that the weaker demand is also driven by more cautious behavior on the part of employers.

Employment data also show some decline in the industrial sector. In the first quarter of 2026, the share of workers in the industrial sector decreased from 24.7% to 24.4% year-over-year, while the services sector increased its share of the labor market.

Retail Exacerbates the Overall Decline

In the “Retail and Sales” category, job postings decreased by 604, or 6.5%, compared to June. Although the percentage decline is smaller than that in tourism and manufacturing, its impact on the overall market is significant.

The reason is the sector’s scale. Retail continues to account for about a quarter of all job postings in the database monitored by JobTiger, while manufacturing accounts for 18.5%. Next are the hospitality and restaurant sectors, at 12.4%.

Since these sectors generate a large absolute number of job postings, even a relatively moderate percentage decline in them leads to a noticeable reduction in the total number of positions.

Retail was already among the main drivers of the decline in June, when job postings in the sector fell by about 1,000, or 10%, compared to May.

Only two sectors bucked the overall July trend – “Accounting, Auditing, and Finance”, where job postings rose by 9.1%, and “Marketing and Advertising”, with a 3.5% increase.

The decline now spans all sectors on a year-over-year basis

The more alarming sign comes from a comparison with July 2025. All monitored sectors report fewer job openings.
The largest percentage decline is in the arts – 40.2%, logistics and transportation – 38.2%, and construction – 27.3%. In terms of absolute numbers, the sharpest contraction is in logistics and transportation – with 1,743 fewer job postings – as well as in trade and sales – with 1,423 fewer.

The IT sector also remains under pressure. Job postings there are down 25.4%, or 697 fewer, compared to July 2025.

The slowdown in tech positions has been evident for months. Data from Dev.bg’s Job Board for the period January – May revealed a deeper structural problem – a mismatch between candidates’ skills and preferences and companies’ actual demand. Thus, the weakness of the IT market is not limited to a decrease in the total number of job postings.

Fewer job postings in all major cities

The decline in July also affected all six regional cities under observation, where job postings decreased by an average of 5.9%. The sharpest declines were in Stara Zagora (14.2%) and Ruse (10.8%). In Sofia, job postings fell by 6.4%, in Plovdiv by 5%, and in Burgas by 4.5%.

The market in Varna remains the most stable, with a decline of just 0.5%. According to JobTiger, it is possible that seasonal demand along the Northern Black Sea coast is still offsetting part of the overall decline, even though new job postings in the tourism sector are already shrinking nationwide.

This marks a change from June, when Varna and Burgas recorded the sharpest monthly declines – 20% and 13%, respectively – amidst a slowdown in hiring within the tourism sector.

Low Unemployment, but Weaker Demand

The decline in job postings is occurring against the backdrop of still very low overall unemployment. According to Eurostat data, the unemployment rate in the country stood at 3% in June – the lowest in the European Union.

This paints a seemingly contradictory picture: companies are limiting new job openings, yet the available pool of unemployed workers remains small. The market may simultaneously be cooling in terms of the number of new positions while maintaining a structural shortage of workers with specific skills.

The Employment Agency’s annual survey, published in January 2026, had already shown a cooling of hiring intentions compared to the previous year and more realistic plans on the part of employers. At the same time, the shortage in sectors such as education, healthcare, and transportation remains persistent.

Thus, the decline in job postings does not necessarily mean that the long-standing problem of staff shortages has been resolved. Rather, employers may be postponing the expansion of their teams while they continue to face difficulties in finding people for key positions.

August will be slow; the real test comes in September

JobTiger forecasts that activity will likely remain subdued in August as well. The main reasons are vacations, reduced production capacity at some companies, and the end of a large portion of seasonal hires.

The more important test for the market will come in September, when postponed recruitment processes traditionally resume.

If the usual fall recovery turns out to be weaker than in previous years, this would be an additional sign that employers have become more cautious about new hires on a lasting basis, and that the July decline is not solely due to seasonality,” the HR agency notes.

Translated with DeepL.