03.12.2019
WHO ARE THE RESERVES ON THE LABOR MARKET?
People with disabilities are one of the big reserves in the labor market, but they remain unused, experts comment
The labor market in Bulgaria has at least three large reserves, among which are the disabled. This was said at a press conference by the director of the Balkan Institute of Labor and Social Policy Ivan Neykov. The event was on the occasion of International Day of People with Disabilities - December 3.
In most developed European countries, employment among people with disabilities is around 60 per cent, and in Bulgaria this figure is only 31 per cent. Experts believe that this percentage is actually even lower - 10-15 percent, said Elka Todorova, chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Federation of Employers of disabled people.
Experts point out that if earlier the topic of the labor market was that we could not find skilled workers, the problem today is that there are no more workers. At the same time, we are in a "we gas in water, we go thirsty" situation because we do not use the reserves, among which are disabled people.
All the analyzes show that people with disabilities are good workers, they have much less turnover, they are more attached to the enterprise, which has made an effort to adapt their jobs. They are loyal and skilled workers. Employers say it is expensive to adapt one workplace, while at the same time only BGN 500,000 of the over BGN 4 million allocated for this year were used.
Experts believe there is a lack of information on job adaptation opportunities, as well as information on how new technologies make it possible to use remote work. More and more consumers, especially those in the young group, tend to buy goods made by people with disabilities, goods with a cause.
Currently, there are around 2000 people employed in the specialized enterprises of and for people with disabilities in the country, before 1989 their number exceeded 55 000 people. Undoubtedly small and medium-sized enterprises have huge untapped potential for providing employment for people with disabilities, said Elka Todorova, Yordan Dimitrov - consultant of the National Federation of Employers of disabled people and psychologist Margarita Bakracheva.
Almost half a year after the introduction of the new quota principle for the employment of persons with permanent disabilities in enterprises, there has been an increase in the employment of this group of unemployed - according to the information of the Ministry of Social Affairs over 12,000 people with disabilities have been employed in the first 9 months of this year, registered with the Labor Offices. For the same period in 2018, they were only 6 831. Twice the number of jobs offered this year is 2 446 by the end of September this year, compared to 1 258 for the whole of the previous year. According to experts, the additional employment for people with permanent disability affects mainly the registered unemployed, and there is no work yet to attract inactive people with disabilities - a group with huge potential for the labor market in Bulgaria.
The General Labor Inspectorate inspects more than 880 enterprises to comply with the quotas for hiring workers and employees with disabilities. In the first three months of actually applying quotas, 110 companies refused to fulfill their obligations under the Disabled Persons Act and paid compensation for 549 vacancies. A total of BGN 92 244 was received from fines in the budget.
According to experts from the National Federation of Disabled Employers, the Horizons Association and the Balkan Institute of Labor and Social Policy, specialized enterprises are one of the solutions to the problem of high unemployment among people with disabilities. Equally promising are the Centers for Protected Employment, regulated by the Disabled Persons Act. Each of the future centers will employ at least 15 people with at least two types of permanent disabilities, each leading to at least 50 percent reduced working capacity.
For the first time this year, the Agency for People with Disabilities has provided BGN 600 thousand for two pilot centers for sheltered employment, and one project for BGN 263 thousand has been approved for funding. The center created with this money will be in the form of an experienced garden for labor rehabilitation and integration in Bozhurishte.
Under the project "Innovative Integrated Supported Employment Services for Persons with Disabilities" under the HRD OP, specialized enterprises have in recent years introduced new services and industries other than traditional activities such as tailoring.
