15.12.2020
NOVEMBER REPORTS THE LOWEST UNEMPLOYMENT AFTER THE END OF THE EMERGENCY
The level of registered unemployment in the country in November was 6.7 percent, which is the lowest registered value since the end of the state of emergency on May 13, 2020, according to the latest data from the Employment Agency.
The most sought-after professions during the month are: installers; machine operators of stationary machines and equipment; workers in the mining and processing industry, construction and transport.
The companies are also looking for skilled workers in the production of food, clothing, wood products; metallurgists, machine builders and related craftsmen; sellers; waste collection and related workers; personnel employed in the field of personal services (bartenders, waiters, cooks, maids, etc.); staff caring for people; economic and administrative specialists, etc.
The declared jobs on the primary labor market in November were 12,386, which is 9.3% more than those announced in November 2019. The largest share of vacancies in the real economy was declared in the manufacturing industry (36.3 followed by administrative and support service activities (12.8%), trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (11.8%), hotels and restaurants (7.2%), construction (7.2%) and general government 5.4%).
At the end of November, the registered unemployed in the labor offices, according to the Employment Agency, were 218,840, which is 9,069 fewer than in October. On an annual basis, however, the increase is 29,366 people.
Last month, 29,105 new unemployed persons were registered to use the mediation and services of the labor offices, as well as another 558 people from the groups of jobseekers, students and pensioners.
In November, the number of unemployed people who started working in our country reached 17,343, which is an increase of 13% compared to the same month last year.
Of those who started work last month, 87.5% are employed in the real economy, most of them employed in the manufacturing sector - 25.5% of all those who started work, followed by trade - by 16.3%, the hotel industry and restaurant business - 8.0%, public administration - 6.3%, construction - 5.3%, etc.
In November, 2,165 unemployed persons from the risk groups started working in subsidized jobs - 412 under employment programs and measures and 1,753 - under schemes of the Operational Program "Human Resources Development", according to the data of the Employment Agency.
At the same time, the "Employment for You" scheme under the Operational Program "Human Resources Development", which started in July as an anti-crisis measure, has provided employment to 6,804 people, and in November alone employment contracts were concluded with 683 new unemployed.
The anti-crisis measures for short-term employment support, popular as a third design of the measures 60/40 or 80/20 or "Short-term employment support in response to the pandemic of COVID-19" under the Operational Program "Human Resources Development", ensured the preservation of employment of more than 300 thousand employees from May to the end of November, according to the Employment Agency.
11.12.2020
YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO POSTPONLE YOUR HOLIDAY FOR NEXT YEAR
For some employees at the end of the year, the question always arises as to what happens to the remaining unused days of leave. Are the days of leave lost, can they be transferred, or are employers obliged to give them by the end of the year?
The use of paid annual leave may be postponed for the next calendar year by both the employer and the employee. From the employer - for important production reasons. From the employee - when he uses another type of leave or at his request with the consent of the employer.
The law stipulates that the employee uses his or her paid annual leave until the end of the calendar year to which it relates.
When the use of the paid annual leave is postponed by the employer for the next year, in this case the employee is provided with the use of not less than half of the paid annual leave due for the calendar year. That is, if our employment contract states that we are entitled to 20 days of paid annual leave, then 10 days must certainly be provided by the employer to use for the calendar year.
In case of postponement by the employee, all or part of the paid annual leave may be postponed. Leave is postponed at the request of the employee with the consent of the employer. The consent of the employee and the employer is sufficient to postpone the leave for the next year.
Where the leave is postponed or not used until the end of the calendar year to which it relates, the employer shall ensure its use in the following calendar year, but not later than 6 months from the end of the calendar year to which it relates.
The law stipulates that at the beginning of each calendar year, but no later than January 31, the employer is obliged to notify in writing each employee of the amount of paid annual leave, which is entitled to use during the calendar year, including deferred or unused from previous calendar years.
When the paid annual leave or part of it has not been used until the expiration of two years from the end of the year for which it is taken, regardless of the reasons for that, the right to use it shall expire.
Reference:
Art. 176, para. 1 of the Labor Code
Art. 173, para. 5 of the Labor Code
Art. 176, para. 1, item 2 of the Labor Code
Art. 176, para. 2 of the Labor Code
Art. 176a, para. 1 of the Labor Code
Art. 37a of the Ordinance on working hours, breaks and vacations
11.12.2020
The stored jobs under the measure 60/40 are about 250 thousand
Over BGN 585 million have been transferred so far to the companies and enterprises that have applied under the measure 60/40 for maintaining the employment of their employees. The jobs stored are about 250 thousand, and all workers receive their full wages and insurances. This was announced by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy.
The state compensations amount to 60% of the due salaries and insurances, and the employers are obliged to insure the remaining 40%.
The first version of 60/40, which operated from March to June, supported 9,000 companies, according to the NSSI analysis. They received BGN 186 million, the largest part of which is for enterprises in the processing industry - nearly BGN 71.6 million to keep more than 80,400 jobs. BGN 29.5 million for 26,700 employees are directed to the employers from the trade. The hotel and restaurant sector was supported by a little over BGN 22.6 million. Most of the companies are from the districts of Sofia-city (3127), Plovdiv (724) and Varna (609).
The transferred funds under the second variant of the measure 60/40 are nearly BGN 342 million to 5241 employers. Most of them - nearly BGN 175.1 million, were transferred again to companies from the processing industry for the preservation of about 62,000 jobs.
The enterprises from the mining industry received BGN 41.6 million for 6,500 reserved jobs. BGN 33.0 million were directed to the employers from trade for over 11,600 employees. The Hotel and Restaurant Sector was supported by about BGN 50.2 million for 35,000 jobs, and the Transport, Warehousing and Post Office Sector by BGN 33.1 million for nearly 14,600 employees. Most companies were from Sofia-city (1816), Varna (434), Burgas (419) and Plovdiv (399).
Under the third design of the measure, more than BGN 57.5 million have been paid so far. It started in October and the application lasts until December 15. It has already supported 2,661 companies to retain 73,271 jobs. Currently, the other applications of the applicant companies are being processed, which are a total of 4872 for nearly 110,000 employees.
In the current version of the measure there are reliefs not only for the companies from the sector "Hotel and restaurant", but for those from the so-called "Random shipments". They have no obligation to maintain the employment of seasonal workers after the end of the winter tourist season. Companies that received funds under the measure before October have administrative facilities for submitting documents.
It is expected that from the beginning of next year the measures to support employment will be consolidated. These are the measures 60/40 for maintaining employment, 80/20 for short-term employment and the new measure for closed businesses.
According to an analysis by the National Social Security Institute, the measure 60/40, with which the state supports business financially in order to preserve jobs in the coronary crisis, has contributed to limiting the growth of unemployment in our country.
04.12.2020
Professional assistants will take care of people with disabilities
"With the amendments to the Personal Assistance Act, we place emphasis on the quality of personal assistance and the control over its provision. We consider it as one of the tools to support people with disabilities, believing that personal assistance should be combined with social services."
This was said by the Minister of Labor and Social Policy during an event organized by the Center for Independent Living on the occasion of World Day of Persons with Disabilities. This was announced by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy.
"We aim to professionalize the assistants. A step towards this is the increase in their salaries. We do not limit family members to be assistants, but we think it is good to invest in professionals.
We are also considering training for family members of people with disabilities, "she added. The Minister reminded that the planned funds in the budget for 2021 are BGN 214.6 million for personal assistants and another BGN 85 million under the Social Services for Assistant Support Act.
She pointed out that those in need can receive support through the patronage care provided under the operational program "Human Resources Development", as well as benefit from similar services provided by municipalities.
The Minister pointed out that so far the concluded contracts for providing assistance support are 32,673 for a total of 4,311,625 hours. He reminded that the law is for all groups of people with disabilities, as currently only 8% of its users are children and 40% are people over 65 years of age. According to Denitsa Sacheva, a discussion continues on the creation of a Code of Social Support, which would unite the various laws in the social sphere. Personal assistance will certainly be included. Earlier in the day, Minister Sacheva joined a discussion on the rights of people with disabilities, organized by the Association of Parents of Children with Epilepsy. She congratulated the participants and reaffirmed the commitment of the government and the Ministry to support them and create appropriate policies to improve their quality of life.
A home exercise machine replaces the fitness card
Companies plan to replace the Christmas bonus for their employees with gifts such as extra leave, health insurance or a consultation with a psychologist. This is clear from a survey of 100 Bulgarian and international companies operating in Sofia and Plovdiv, mainly in the sectors of telecommunications, finance, high technology, outsourcing, trade and manufacturing.
Despite the challenging year, the companies have not given up on paying additional health insurance to their employees. Maintaining emotional health and a sense of belonging to the team are also among the main focuses in companies.
Companies that have the financial capacity for additional incentives for their employees this year will invest in season-themed products and gifts, according to a study by Adeco. Employers seek to diversify the package of social benefits and compensations they give to their employees in order to meet their more complex needs and individual achievements. Many material but not direct financial incentives are also provided. Undoubtedly, this year the most important additional benefits for the employees are the reliable additional health insurance, the opportunity to work from home and the additional days off.
Some employers offer the option to replace the sports cards they have provided to their employees with targeted funding for the purchase of fitness equipment for the home. The reason is that the gyms are closed and people cannot use their cards.
The companies also implement many online activities that mimic standard team building.
Some of the Christmas corporate parties will also be virtual, where there will be such, as employers rely on more and more creative ideas on how to organize them by sending products and individual gifts to the homes of employees.
Half of the companies are cutting staff
Due to the COVID crisis, half of the companies have given up planned investments this year, and 45% have started staff reductions.
This is clear from a survey of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce among Bulgarian business for the past year, marked by COVID. According to the study 39 percent of the companies have introduced partial or full telecommuting. 38% of the companies have made investments in order to comply with the anti-epidemic regulations. One third (35%) had to dismiss part or all of their staff on unpaid leave for a certain period of time. 21% focused on the development of online sales, and 18% transformed their production in the direction of changing products and/or markets.
03.12.2020
Average wages are falling in most countries
As a result of the COVID pandemic in the first six months of this year, average wages are falling or rising more slowly in most countries around the world, according to a new report by the International Labor Organization (ILO), quoted by the CITUB press center.
This trend is observed in two thirds of the countries for which the organization has official data, and the forecast is that the crisis will put enormous downward pressure on wages in the near future.
For this one-third of the countries with growth for the first half of the year, it is actually largely due to distortions of values due to the large number of low-paid workers who have lost their jobs and thus do not fall into the employment data, added the ILO. .
In countries where decisive measures have been taken to preserve employment, the effects of the crisis are felt mainly as a decline in wages rather than a huge job loss, is another conclusion in the 2020/21 Global Wage Report.
In addition, not all workers have been equally affected by the crisis. The impact on women is greater than on men. The crisis has also hit lower-paid workers hard. Those in lower-skilled occupations have reduced working hours, in contrast to higher-paid managerial and skilled jobs. Based on data from 28 European countries, the report shows that without temporary subsidies, the lowest paid 50 percent of workers would lose about 17.3 percent of their income. Without subsidies, the average amount of lost wages for all groups would be 6.5 percent.
"Rising inequalities caused by the COVID-19 crisis threaten to create a legacy of poverty, social and economic instability that would be devastating," said ILO Director-General Guy Ryder. According to him, the recovery strategy should be focused on the person. "If we're going to build a better future, we also have to deal with some awkward questions about why high-value jobs, such as carers and teachers, are often associated with low pay," said Guy Ryder.
The report includes an analysis of minimum wage systems and concludes that they could play an important role in sustainable and equitable recovery.
At present, minimum wages have been introduced in some form in 90 percent of ILO member states. But even before the pandemic began, the report found that 266 million people worldwide - 15 percent of all wages in the world - earned less than the hourly minimum wage, either due to non-compliance or legal exclusion from such schemes.
The groups most often excluded from the legal coverage of minimum wage systems are agricultural and domestic workers. The report shows that by 2020, approximately 18 percent of countries with a statutory minimum wage exclude either agricultural workers, domestic workers or both sectors from the minimum wage regulations.
Collective bargaining, which takes into account the specifics of specific companies or sectors, can strike the right balance and reassess wage adequacy in some predominantly female-dominated low-paid sectors that have proved essential and of high social value in the current crisis, according to the ILO.
Planning new and adequate minimum wages - mandatory or negotiated - could help ensure more social justice and less inequality. The analyzes in the report show that when minimum wages are set at an adequate level, they legally cover those employees who are most likely to be in low-paid jobs and thus contribute to reducing inequality.
The 2020/21 Global Wage Report also looks at wage trends in 136 countries in the four years leading up to the pandemic. He found that global wage growth ranged from 1.6 percent to 2.2 percent. They are growing fastest in Asia and the Pacific and Eastern Europe and much slower in North America and Northern, Southern and Western Europe.
03.12.2020
December 3 is the International Day of people with disabilities
In 1992, the General Assembly of the United Nations declared December 3 as International Day of people with disabilities.
Its goal is to constantly motivate politicians and institutions to take more effective actions, with which to guarantee access to the general architectural environment of the people with disabilities; access to the general education system, to the general market, to information and to the processes of making and taking political decisions decisions that have a relationship to it.
02.12.2020
And people with mental disabilities will be subject to sheltered employment
The circle of persons subject to sheltered employment is expanding by including people with mental disorders and intellectual disabilities in order to support them in the process of their employment in the labor market. Parliament voted on second reading amendments to the Disability Act.
The amendments ensure the right of people with disabilities to aids, devices, equipment and medical devices, outside the scope of compulsory health insurance, determined individually on the basis of their specific needs within the health system. Thus, they will be entitled to aids determined individually by a medical document issued by the medical advisory commissions, based on their specific needs and according to a specification approved by the National Health Insurance Fund.
In case of change of the circumstances, on the basis of which support has been provided in accordance with the requirements of the law, the director of the Social Assistance Directorate will prepare ex officio a new individual needs assessment.
From now on, the National Health Insurance Fund will take over the provision and payment of aids and medical devices for people with disabilities. This will be done with a transfer from the state budget through the budget of the Ministry of Health.
The institutionalization of the new State Agency for People with Disabilities at the Council of Ministers was postponed for a year. By the end of 2020, the Agency for People with Disabilities was to be transformed into a state agency within the Council of Ministers. It will now be operational from 1 January 2022, instead of early next year.
By December 31, 2021, the Social Assistance Agency shall submit to the National Health Insurance Fund the information related to the provided targeted benefits under this law.
01.12.2020
The order for closed businesses has been supplemented
The Minister of Labor and Social Policy supplemented the order for closed businesses, whose workers can receive up to BGN 24 a day in compensation from the state for being on unpaid leave.
Employers who have ceased operations on October 29, 2020, can claim funds for their employees for up to 60 days. Such are the owners of bars, taverns, wineries, breweries, cafes, language and educational centers, other training centers and schools, as well as companies that organize congress-conference events, seminars, competitions, trainings, team building, exhibitions and others. public events in attendance. Professional colleges are added to them.
With the changes in the order of the Minister for receiving funds under the measure "Keep me" are included employees on unpaid leave after November 27, 2020 in gaming halls and casinos, as well as in hairdressing and beauty salons, laundries, sewing workshops and dry cleaning located on the territory of shopping centers, including the type of mall.
As of Friday, the other retail outlets in the malls were declared eligible for support, with the exception of grocery stores, drugstores, opticians and pet stores, which will be open.
The staff of private kindergartens and nurseries, cinemas, discos, piano and night bars, night clubs and other nightclubs for indoor entertainment can also apply for compensation.
Also entitled are those employed in economic activities related to concerts, creation and presentation of live performances such as operas, operettas, circuses and other stage works, directors, producers, set designers, costume and lighting designers, technical specialists, museum workers, as well as and in sectors related to all collective and individual sports events of a training and competitive nature and those working in solariums, saunas, weight loss and massage salons.
Employees on an 8-hour working day are entitled to BGN 24 compensation for each day of unpaid leave. If the employee is employed part-time, the funds are calculated in proportion to the hours recorded in the employment contract. All employers applying for the "Keep Me" measure will have to keep the workers for whom they want funding from the state for as long as they have received money from the state.
Those wishing to use compensation must provide their employer with a written declaration in a form indicating the period for using unpaid leave and their bank account to which the funds will be paid.
