05.05.2023

LOW WAGES, SUPPORT FROM PARENTS, POOR EDUCATION AND LAZINESS ARE AMONG THE MOST COMMON REASONS WHY YOUNG PEOPLE IN BULGARIA DO NOT WORK

1,725 young people under the age of 29 are registered as unemployed at the Labor Offices in the three regions of North-West Bulgaria according to the latest data of the Employment Agency. There are 447 in the Vidin region, 715 in Vratsa, and 563 in Montana. On a national scale, about 140,000 young people neither study nor work. The data were presented at a round table on the topic "Work for young people, young people at work", organized by MEP Petar Vitanov.

"Bulgaria has been facing a cascade of crises in recent years that have created a major workforce problem." This was said by the head of the Delegation of the Bulgarian Socialists in the European Parliament.

According to a nationally representative survey by Trend agency, presented by sociologist Evelina Slavkova, 88 percent of those questioned believe that there should be more state policies aimed at unemployed youth.

"Approximately 60 percent of respondents believe that the education system does not sufficiently prepare young people to find a job, 25 percent have the opposite opinion. 75 percentage points of the respondents indicate low pay among the reasons why young people cannot find work; poor conditions from employers and without contracts - 51 percent; 50 percent point out a lack of jobs; 48 percent note the lack of experience; 38 percent - lack of initiative to look for work. 42 percent, mostly between 18 and 29 years old, answer, that the state is obliged to provide work. Finding a job is a personal responsibility, 51 percent believe. When asked whether or not there are enough opportunities for employment, 33 percent of recipients answer positively, while 55 percent are of the opposite opinion. 34 percent believe that there should be more opportunities for retraining, 13 percent - that a reform in higher education is needed. According to 75 percent of the young people asked, they can only find a job in the big cities, and 56 percent believe that it is easier abroad . 66% of Bulgarians believe that young people should have connections in order to find a good job. When you ask them why you don't want to work or study, they say that their parents are abroad and support me. In smaller settlements, the money they receive from their parents abroad is much higher than the salary they would receive in that settlement. Young people in Bulgaria are lazy and that's why they can't find a job, according to 32% of the respondents."

Daniel Parushev, chairman of the National Representation of Student Councils, also took part in the discussion. He outlined the problems in preparing young people for the labor market. He drew attention to the fact that more and more unprepared young people enter higher education institutions, scholarships continue to be low, and the conditions in the majority of dormitories are not good. The lack of innovation of professors and assistants is among the reasons why students do not attend lectures and exercises, he pointed out. There is a lack of connection with business, enough paid internships for the student community. Bulgarian companies show little interest, but still, higher education in our country has grown a lot, Parushev also stated.

In a global context, the labor market is changing at an extremely high speed, technological developments and innovations are emerging, said Atanas Pekanov, the Deputy Prime Minister for the management of European funds. This will be the 21st century - a century of challenges, of new competencies that we must acquire every single day, he commented. Pekanov pointed out that with each passing day, we must work to ensure that young people have access to these competencies. We must not forget something that will be necessary for all of us – the ability to learn for life, said the Deputy Prime Minister.

More than 140,000 young people are not employed and do not participate in any form of training, noted Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policy Emil Mingov. According to him, this is a huge reserve, the question is to be able to move it. We are faced with a heterogeneous mass of young people who do not work and do not study, he pointed out and added that some of them are in a vulnerable position, including the Roma community, but there are others who, despite everything, do not want to work. Regarding the first group, the deputy minister said that a model of centers is currently being developed in the Roma communities themselves, where it will be established what can activate young people to work and how to change the current practice, where some people work irregularly and at the same time they receive social benefits.

The trend at the moment is for children to stay in Bulgaria to complete their first bachelor's degree here and then, through the master's degree, to see foreign experience as well, said the Acting Minister of Education and Science Prof. Sasho Penov at a round table dedicated to young people. "Of the enrolled students, 60% graduate, the others give up because they don't want to study," the Minister of Education pointed out.

The problem of youth employment is more comprehensive, but the reasons for high unemployment among young people are rather prosaic. This was noted by Vanya Grigorova, economic adviser of the Confederation of Labor "Support":

"When we make the environment in Bulgaria more welcoming for young people, then we can expect them to stay here to study, raise families and have children. Otherwise, we will continue to queue at Terminal 2. We cannot continue like this , especially if the rulers continue to turn a blind eye to such key problems as low pay, exploitation, the impossibility of studying normally in Bulgaria."