19.02.2021

Unemployment will spiral out of control without an expanded scope of measures

Last year, Bulgaria undertook anti-crisis policies worth 6.7 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product for 2019.

The majority of other countries have spent much more resources. The average European expenditure is 14.3 percent of GDP, which is twice the value in Bulgaria, according to an analysis by economist Lyuboslav Kostov of the Institute for Social and Trade Union Research of CITUB, published on the Confederation's website.

The only country that has spent less than us is Romania (4 percent of GDP), with Portugal, Slovakia and Estonia close to our values. All other countries have much higher values ​​of anti-crisis measures than ours, the analysis notes.

According to Kostov, the data show that the economic policy of the government in our country, although correct and expressed in many specific measures, is much more conservative against the background of the economic policy of other EU member states. This is strange because our country does not have a problem with government debt or a chronic deficit, as do most of these countries, which have spent several times more money as a share of GDP to overcome the effects of the crisis, the economist added.

The general assessment of CITUB is that the most successful measure for maintaining employment and income compensation was 60/40.

Since the beginning of the year, unemployment in Bulgaria, although gradual, has been on the rise, according to the analysis. In view of the unclear term and scope of the governmental measures under Covid-19, the risks of job loss remain, the CITUB said, adding that they therefore insist on the continuation of measures concerning employment and the protection of necessary.

CITUB wants the scope of these measures to be extended to all categories of workers, including non-traditional and non-standard employment, as well as the self-employed.

Otherwise, we risk getting unemployment out of control, with very severe consequences for economic recovery, the analysis said.

CITUB supports the intentions of the EC to refinance the SURE package and considers it appropriate for our country to continue to benefit from the favorable terms of the loan at least until the end of 2021.