04.01.2022

SUPERSOCIAL THINKING IN 2021

In the coming 2021, social policy was rehabilitated; because of the elections, all political parties suddenly started to think supersocially, because you can't go and want national love and turn your back on social policy. This was good because serious issues were raised, the director of the Balkan Institute for Labor and Social Policy Ivan Neykov told BTA. Neikov was asked to comment on what happened in 2021 in the thematic area of ​​the Institute.

"The icing on the cake is the update of pensions, which was done at the end of the year - something that has been expected for a very long time.

The mistake - we have lost the line between social security and assistance

According to Ivan Neykov, the wrong step during the year is that with the policies towards pensioners we have lost the border between social security and social assistance. "We have started to provide benefits as a pension - whether we call them covid supplements, whether - support to the poverty line is not so important, but it blurs the line between two completely different systems," said the expert.

In the social security system the human contribution is important in terms of the amount of the pension, while in social assistance the human needs are leading - there is no contribution, there is a matter of public support, said the director of the Balkan Institute of Labor and Social Policy. According to Neikov, this mistake continues to exist, carried over into the policies of 2022 - we will again give equal covid supplements. He believes that the task of not blurring the boundaries between the two systems will continue to be solved in 2022, hopefully not in 2023, because "many people have a hard time understanding one of the basic laws in the social sphere - that it is very easy to give, but it is very difficult to stop what you have given, even when you have given it wrong."

Covid supplements do not replace the lack of social services and do not give a better life

"We decided that it is enough for the pensioners to raise their pensions in order to lead a better quality of life. What about the fact that we will give BGN 60-70 extra to one person in a small village where there is no one to give him the services, which he needs?", commented Ivan Neykov.

According to him, the biggest problem in the social sphere is the lack of services. There must be a completely different policy to encourage the provision of services, the expert said. According to Neikov, the politicians did not ask the elderly what services they need, but gave them BGN 50-100 more, telling them that they would live better that way, which, according to him, is far from the case.

Employee income

According to Ivan Neykov, different industries reacted differently during the crisis - in closed or limited businesses people lost income, but for some businesses this situation was a real revival - in online commerce, the IT industry. It is impossible to stigmatize the year that it was infinitely bad or infinitely good - there were different conditions for different industries, Neykov said.

Imposing policies in 2022

We have forgotten people with disabilities, we must return them to the labor market, said Ivan Neykov. According to him, one of the most serious problems facing the new leadership of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy (MLSP) will be how to change the system for assessing working capacity. The big "white spot" in the last ten years in MLSP policies is that labor has been pushed into the corner, said Ivan Neykov in response to a question about how working people were supported. According to him, there are dozens of issues that have accumulated related to labor legislation. They need to be resolved, but we are constantly postponing them, he said. According to Neikov, one of them is related to the work of people with disabilities.

More than 100,000 people with disabilities can enter the labor market

Research by the Balkan Institute for Labor and Social Policy shows that more than 100,000 people with disabilities can be very active in the labor market and their inclusion is imperative because of their social inclusion and employers' labor needs. It sounds very theoretical, but it is important both financially and socially, because the current system is aimed at this - one goes to the TEMC to receive a pension, this is the goal, while the real goal of all industrialized countries is: when go to the performance appraisal system, to help you understand what is what you can do, not what you can not do, said the expert. In this case, these people are much more useful for themselves, for society and for their loved ones, because we are helping people to work and earn income, not just a pension. This is a huge challenge, which I hope the new leadership will have the courage to meet," Neykov said.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy must also answer the question of what we need to regulate in a new way and how to provide social services to people who need them, Neykov said.

The pandemic restored the contacts of the Bulgarians in the close family circle

Asked whether the pandemic has produced more social marginalization in Bulgaria, Neykov said that the pandemic in our country has a different effect, we can not talk about social marginalization, because if the pandemic has reduced broad social contacts, at the same time increased social contacts in more small circles, in the family. "The Bulgarian feels much better when he is with his closest ones, with his friends, with his family, when he hears more from his relatives, sees them. From this point of view there was nothing scary in 2021," he added.