The number of economically active Bulgarians - employed and unemployed, including those seeking work for the first time, is gradually decreasing, shows data of the NSI. In 2004, the economically active population thinned by 12,000 and has been steadily declining by some 10,000 annually from 1999 onwards. At present, Bulgarians aged 15 and over who are willing and able to work number 3.5 mln, or half the population in this age bracket. The other 3 mln have not appeared on any statistics regarding job-seekers or employed workers. A recent survey of the National Public Opinion Center fond that only one tenth of those are employed in the grey economy; another huge portion live in rural areas, making a living with subsistence farming. Also outside the statisticians' radar screens are the people living off rent, and the relatives of the 716,000 Bulgarians working abroad. The NSI said the unemployed seeking jobs are outnumbered by the so called discouraged job-seekers. Half of the latter have primary or no education and one fourth of them are young people. If the quality of the labour market's human resource continues to deteriorate at the current rate, the economic development may slow down, the local companies will lose their market competitiveness and the viability of the pension system will be imperilled, warned recently the economic and social council, a public body comprising employer organisations, trade unions and NGOs.