10.06.2022
THE MLSP PUBLISHES A NEWSLETTER IN THE FIELD OF INCOME AND LIVING STANDARDS
The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy (MLSP) has published an information bulletin in the field of living standards and income for the first quarter of 2022. It contains data on Bulgaria's gross domestic product, inflation, wages and employees, economic activity of the population, household income and expenditure. The full text of the newsletter can be seen at the following link: https://mlsp.government.bg/byuletin-na-mtsp.
Statistics show that the total number of employees in Bulgaria in the first quarter of 2022 was 3.068 million people. Compared to the same period in 2021, they increased by 1.3%. The total average income per household member in the first quarter of 2022 was BGN 2,005.54 and increased by 9.6% compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In the structure of the total income with the highest relative share is the income from salary (56.9%), followed by the income from pensions (30.9%) and from self-employment (4.9%).
The average salary in the private sector for the reporting period is BGN 1,591, which is 11.6% more than in the first quarter of 2021. In the public sector the average salary for the first quarter of the year is BGN 1,598 and in Compared to the same period of 2021, it increased by 1.8%, according to the data in the MLSP newsletter.
10.06.2022
APPLICATIONS FOR THE NEW SOLIDARITY MEASURE IN SUPPORT OF UKRAINIAN CITIZENS HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED
From June 6, 2022, the Employment Agency started the implementation of the project "Solidarity", funded by the Operational Program "Human Resources Development" 2014-2020. It will provide timely support for rapid labor integration of displaced persons from Ukraine with guaranteed access to the labor market, who arrived in Bulgaria after 24.02.2022. The grant under the project amounts to BGN 46,594,860.
By joining the project, Ukrainian citizens will have the opportunity to:
In order to benefit from these services, Ukrainian citizens should register with the Labor Office Directorates, which are located throughout the country, and apply there on the spot.
Employers wishing to join the Solidarity project and hire people from the target group will be able to apply for inclusion in the project only through an electronic platform. The platform is available here.
During the period of subsidized employment, they will receive funds for remuneration of employed Ukrainians in the amount of the minimum wage (BGN 710.00) and due insurance at the expense of employers, as well as incentives covering the costs of all due contributions at the expense of the employer, according to the requirements of the Labor Code and the Social Security Code - for the remaining employed persons after the period of subsidized employment, calculated on the established for the country minimum wage.
Detailed information about the conditions of the project can be found on the official website of the Employment Agency - here, as well as in all Directorates "Labor Office" in the country.
10.06.2022
MORE THAN 740,000 PEOPLE WILL RECEIVE SUPPORT UNDER THE HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM 2021-2027.
The government approved the draft Human Resources Development Program (HRD) 2021-2027, which is co-financed by the European Social Fund + and the national budget. The implementation of the HRD will provide support for the development of the workforce and overcoming the challenges facing the labor market. Among the main goals of the program are to provide more and better opportunities for social inclusion of vulnerable groups, as well as providing equal opportunities for participation in the economic and social life of the country.
It is expected that more than 740,000 people will be supported through the implementation of the procedures financed under the program. The budget of HRD 2021-2027 is over BGN 3.8 billion. These funds will provide more opportunities to improve the qualifications, knowledge and skills of employees in Bulgaria. The most vulnerable groups in society - the unemployed, people with disabilities, people living in poverty, children, the elderly, members of the Roma community will receive support for full inclusion in the economic and social life of the country. The implementation of the HRD will provide better opportunities for the development of young people and entrepreneurs starting their own business, including social enterprises.
The project of the Human Resources Development Program 2021 - 2027 is in line with the priorities of the main strategic documents related to the activities of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy. It takes into account the position of the European Commission services, as well as the informal comments received from the European Commission on the draft program.
The draft program is to be sent for official approval by the European Commission.
10.06.2022
SOCIAL DISABILITY PENSIONS HAVE BEEN INCREASED BY MORE THAN 45% SINCE JULY 1
From July 1, the social old-age pension will increase from BGN 170 to BGN 247. This envisages a draft decree of the Council of Ministers prepared by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, which has been published for public discussion. The change will lead to an increase in the amount of pensions that are not related to employment, as by law their amount is determined depending on the old-age social pension.
For example, from July 1, the amount of the social disability pension for people will increase by more than 45%. The growth is almost twice as large compared to the increase in the minimum pension for seniority and age, which from July 1 is planned to increase from BGN 370 to BGN 467 or by 26.2%.
For people with permanently reduced working capacity/type and degree of disability 100 percent with certain foreign assistance the social disability pension will increase from BGN 272 to BGN 395.20. For people with permanently reduced working capacity/type and degree of disability from 91 per cent to 100 per cent its amount will increase from BGN 238 to BGN 345.80. For people with permanently reduced working capacity/type and degree of disability from 71 per cent to 90 per cent the social disability pension will increase from 221 BGN 321.10
The statutory supplements to the pensions, which are determined as a percentage of the old-age social pension, will also increase. The allowance for foreign aid for pensioners with permanently reduced working capacity/type and degree of disability over 90 percent, who constantly need foreign aid, increases from BGN 127.50 to BGN 185.25.
The right to a social disability pension have people over the age of 16, with permanently reduced working capacity/type and degree of disability of more than 71 percent.
At the same time, people with disabilities receive monthly financial support under the Law on People with Disabilities. For people with more than 90 percent degree of disability with the right to foreign assistance, who receive a social disability pension, its amount is BGN 235.41.
09.06.2022
HOW DO I STOP TAKING MY LEAVE?
The law provides for two options for interrupting the use of paid annual leave.
In the first place, interruption of the use of paid annual leave may take place when another type of paid (eg sick leave) or unpaid (eg parental leave) leave is granted during the use of paid annual leave. According to the law, when during the use of the paid annual leave the employee is allowed another type of paid or unpaid leave, the use of the paid annual leave is terminated at his request and the rest is used additionally by agreement between him and the employer.
The interruption is made at the request of the employee. The law does not provide for a special form for this request. In practice, this is usually done with an oral statement of intent to suspend the use of paid annual leave, upon presentation of a sick leave or other document showing that a type of leave other than paid leave is permitted.
The practice of the employer unilaterally terminating paid annual leave that it has already authorized is illegal.
Paid leave of the employee may be interrupted by mutual agreement of the parties, expressed in writing. For this purpose, the employee should submit a written proposal to the other party to interrupt the paid leave. The notified party should accordingly express (if it wishes) its written consent for the leave to be suspended from the relevant date and to be used additionally.
In addition to the above two cases, the employer is not entitled to terminate unilaterally (for example by order) paid annual leave, provided that he has already authorized it for a certain period of time, unless the employee gives his explicit written consent. The same applies in the opposite situation - without the written consent of the employer, the employee may not unilaterally terminate the use of his annual leave, except in cases under Art. 175, para. 1 of the Labor Code.
Reference:
Art. 175, para. 1 of the Labor Code
Art. 175, para. 2 of the Labor Code
09.06.2022
STUDY FOR NEW 5 BRIDGES ON THE DANUBE
Bulgaria and Romania are launching simultaneous feasibility studies at five locations on both sides of the Danube to build new bridges. For the Romanian side, dredging the Danube is a priority. The Bulgarian side will respond adequately to this, as on June 20 the Executive Agency for Maintenance and Research of the Danube River will start dredging the river with its own funds, and within a week a public tender for dredging activities will be announced.
This was stated by the Minister of Transport and Communications Nikolay Sabev in Bucharest to the joint Bulgarian-Romanian working group on connectivity, which is under the patronage of the two prime ministers. On the Romanian side, the working group is led by Sorin Grindianu, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Infrastructure. The Bulgarian delegation was accompanied by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Bulgaria to Bucharest HE Radko Vlaykov.
Minister Sabev stated that funding has been provided for the deepening of the Danube in the amount of BGN 15 million. "The documentation has been prepared and has already been sent to the Public Procurement Agency for preliminary control, and the funds have been distributed for a 3-year period," he explained.
Regarding the joint Fast Danube project, Sabev and Grindianu agreed by the end of 2022 on a joint working group to prepare a joint project for financing by the EC of the planned engineering measures on the river.
Minister Sabev informed his Romanian counterpart that Bulgaria is fully prepared for the launch of the ferry connection Ruse - Giurgiu and proposed a joint border control in Ruse, while in Giurgiu the necessary conditions are created for this. Deputy Prime Minister Grindianu has pledged to help local authorities speed up action in Giurgiu.
The Bulgarian side plans to start repairing its part of the Danube Bridge 1 in July, which from the point of view of the Romanian delegation could create serious problems for the tourist and trade flows. The issue will be discussed so that repair time can be planned so that traffic between the two countries is hampered to a minimum.
09.06.2022
THE EU IS PREPARING COMMON RULES FOR SETTING THE MINIMUM WAGE
The European Parliament and the Council of the EU have agreed on European rules to set a minimum wage, as set out in national legislation or collective agreements. The new legislation will apply to all EU workers who have a contract of employment.
Member States will need to assess whether their minimum wages can currently ensure a decent standard of living, taking into account socio-economic conditions, purchasing power or levels of long-term national productivity or development.
To this end, they could create a consumer basket of goods and services at real prices, as well as apply internationally used values such as 60 percent of gross average wages. Member States in which less than 80 per cent of the workforce is protected by collective bargaining will need to draw up an action plan so as to gradually increase this percentage.
In order to develop the best strategy, they will need to involve the social partners and inform the Commission of the measures taken, as well as make their plan public. States will also be required to put in place a system that includes reliable surveillance, controls and on-site inspections to ensure compatibility and tackle abuses such as over-negotiation, bogus self-employment, unmarked overtime or increased work intensity. National authorities will have to ensure that workers' rights are restored in the event of their violation.
In order to enter into force, the agreement must be approved by the European Parliament's Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and then voted on in plenary. The Council must also approve it.
09.06.2022
ROMANIA DOES NOT MEET THE CRITERIA FOR THE EURO AT ALL
Romania does not meet four of the criteria needed to adopt the euro, and is the only one of the seven countries assessed to be subject to an excessive deficit procedure, the Adevarul newspaper reported, citing the European Commission's Convergence Report. The report assesses the progress of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden on their path to the eurozone.
According to the report's conclusions, only Croatia and Sweden meet the criterion on price stability; all countries meet the public finance criterion, with the exception of Romania, which is the only country facing an excessive deficit procedure; Bulgaria and Croatia meet the exchange rate criterion; Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia and Sweden meet the long-term interest rate criterion. The European Commission has concluded that Croatia meets all the convergence criteria and is ready to adopt the euro on 1 January 2023.
Romania has not yet officially announced a deadline for joining the eurozone, local media reported. Even before the war in Ukraine began, Finance Minister Adrian Kachu said 2029 was a real goal for joining the euro. The previous deadlines officially adopted by the government were 2024 and 2019. Romania's likely future prime minister in May 2023, Marcel Colacu, who now heads the Chamber of Deputies, recently said the country's priority is Schengen and OECD membership.
To give up the leu, Romania must have a budget deficit of up to 3 percent of GDP, government debt must be up to 60 percent of GDP, and inflation must not exceed by 1.5 percentage points the average inflation of the three eurozone members with the highest -good results.
According to the EC's spring economic forecasts, Romania will have economic growth of 2.6% in 2022 and 3.6% in 2023. The budget deficit is expected to reach 7.5% of GDP this year and 6.3% in 2023 Government debt is projected to be 50.9% of GDP in 2022 and 52.6% in 2023, according to the forecast.
In the Convergence Program 2022-2025, which was sent to the EC, the government of Prime Minister Nicolae Chuca was content to write only that "Romania maintains its commitment to join the eurozone, but the government's efforts are currently focused on preventing the economic and social crisis following the Covid-19 pandemic and reducing the negative effects of the military conflict in Ukraine."
The last commitment to join the eurozone was made (but only orally) early last year by then-Prime Minister Florin Katsu, who said in February 2021 that Romania could adopt the euro in 2027 or 2028.
09.06.2022
WHEN YOU CAN FIND A JOB THE FASTEST
Observations of the labor market over the past 3 years show that in the period May-June there are the most job opportunities. This is largely due to the active demand for staff in the hotel and restaurant sector, and this year the growth of ads is observed in other sectors, according to an analysis of the JobTiger platform. The only exception is the Health and Pharmacy sector, which has a slight drop in job advertisements of 0.2%.
The largest growth in proposals in May was in the sectors "Marketing and advertising" (19%), "Logistics and transport" (17%) and "Administrative and service activities" (15%).
They are followed by the sectors "Accounting, Auditing, Finance" (11.9%), "Construction" (11.6%), "Production" (11.6%), "Trade and Sales" (11%) and "IT”(2.1%).
The double-digit growth of proposals in the hotel and restaurant sector, which has been observed since the beginning of the year, seems to be reaching its peak and at the end of May the number of ads in this sector was just over 11,500 and increased by 2%.
Share distribution
The Trade and Sales sector managed to maintain its leading position in the share distribution and in May the number of proposals from it was 22%. The second position is also maintained by the hotel and restaurant industry with 20%, followed by the manufacturing sector with 14%, displacing the IT sector with a very small difference from the third place (13.6%).
The share distribution in the other sectors is: "Administrative and service activities" (9.7%), "Logistics and transport" (9%), "Accounting, audit, finance" (4.5%), "Construction" (4%), Marketing and Advertising (3.2%), Health and Pharmacy (3.1%), Art (1%).
Work from home
The offers for work from home and / or remote work at the end of May are a little over 6150 or 13.4% of the total number of ads. Compared to the previous month of March, the number of these types of proposals increased by 4%, and their ratio by sectors is as follows: "IT" (55%), followed by "Administrative and service activities" (16%), outsourcing sectors industry (16%) and trade and sales (5%).
Ads with a requirement to have a green certificate
Although in the last 2 months the number of proposals requiring a green certificate (certifying a completed cycle of vaccination against COVID-19 or its disease) has decreased significantly, there are still ads with such a requirement. At the end of May, their number was only 50.
Supply by cities
In May 2022, the total number of ads in the leading regional cities increased by 10%. The change by cities is as follows: Sofia (10%), Plovdiv (12%), Varna (5%), Burgas (5%), Ruse (19%) and Stara Zagora (10%).
As in the previous month, as a share distribution, the proposals in the leading regional cities occupy 72% of all announcements. The distribution in each of these cities is as follows: Sofia (44%), Plovdiv (10%), Varna (10%), Burgas (4%), Ruse (3%) and Stara Zagora (2%).
Ads suitable for refugees
According to the analysis of the HR company and career site JobTiger, the number of job vacancies for refugees in April was over 3200. The number of these offers increased by 22% compared to April and as a share they are 8% of the total number of ads in the country.
03.06.2022
HOW TO GET RID OF BAD DEBT?
Unnecessary debt - the most common mistake of young people
The reasons we are indebted to us are usually the result of costly life events, such as major home repairs, buying a car, having children, needing treatment. Others, however, involve ill-considered costs for things that are not essential.
Such "whims" provide us with a higher standard of living than we can afford, at least for a while. Poor financial management or late payment are also common mistakes that lead to debt drowning. Thus, many young people fall into unnecessary debt, which haunts them for years.
Any high interest rate loan is bad debt. This may include quick payday loans or unsecured personal loans. High interest rates can be difficult to repay by the borrower, which often puts him in a worse financial position. Borrowing from acquaintances can also impose even more serious obligations on you if you have promised too short a period to repay the money.
How to avoid unnecessary debt?
Stick to a budget
You need to start tracking your income and expenses. Determine what you can afford based on what you earn. You need to make a budget plan every month, anticipating unexpected expenses ("miscellaneous"), because they will certainly come, and when you are not prepared, you may be tempted to take out a loan to cover these costs. Record each expense (even optional) in the appropriate category and make sure you distinguish between recurring and one-off expenses.
Save in an emergency fund
Spending a little money each month will be useful when you face unplanned expenses. The emergency fund will save you from indebtedness when you have to incur certain expenses, for example, when there is a need for unexpected car repairs, replacement of household appliances or a health problem. Maintaining an emergency fund can save you a lot of headaches and prepare you for unexpected events in the future. It is important that you do not abuse these savings and use them really accidentally.
Live to the best of your ability
Try to pay in cash whenever possible. If you can't afford to buy something without using your credit card, it means you don't have enough money to buy it. In this case, it is better to refrain from buying than to pay with "future" money. This is one of the most dangerous traps for credit card holders - to live with the illusion that they can afford a life that is really beyond their means.
Avoid certain purchases
Don't make impulsive purchases, especially when it comes to large sums. Apply the 24-hour rule to consider whether you really need the purchase. Always compare the prices of the product in different stores (online) and if you do not find a good price, wait for a discount/sale. Another option is to buy a similar product at a cheaper brand. Also, avoid "buy now, pay later" offers, interest-free financing and other similar schemes that will cost you too much.
Maintain your employment
In these uncertain times, good work is not always a given. Ideally, you should be competitive and able to pursue a variety of lucrative occupations. This will avoid the financial blow of rising inflation and ensure a secure source of income. Everyone can maximize their potential by developing and improving their skills, and by creating useful work contacts that open new doors. Keep up with new trends in your field to get a fair pay for your work.
How to get rid of bad debt?
Pay on time every month
Paying off all your loans on time each month is one of the best things you can do for your loan. Take all the necessary steps to make sure you don't miss a payment. You can set up automatic payments or payment reminders through your bank. If you find that you have difficulty "juggling" all your loans and maintaining payments, a pooling loan or debt management plan may be helpful.
Choose the most appropriate strategy
If you have the opportunity to allocate additional funds, direct more money to the debt with the highest interest rates. Of course, you must continue to make the minimum payments on each account. In the long run, this will reduce the total amount of interest you pay. Another approach is to try to pay off the smallest loan first, because you will be able to handle it the fastest. This will reduce the total number of loans, which can provide you with inner peace and more motivation to eliminate your other debts.
Refinancing or renegotiation?
Usually, the refinancing of a loan is done in order to change the terms of the loan and reduce the cost of repaying it. Refinancing can be done both in the bank from which the loan was withdrawn and from another financial institution. In most cases, however, refinancing has a better and more cost-effective alternative - to achieve the required terms of the loan by renegotiating the parameters of this loan with the help of an additional agreement to the contract.
Limit desires and focus on needs
There is always a way to limit some unnecessary expenses in your personal budget. Needs are usually your basic living expenses, things related to your health, or expenses that are necessary to do your job, raise your children and support your family. Desires are things you choose to buy to pamper yourself and live more comfortably, but they are not essential. For a while, give up restaurants, shopping, unnecessary subscriptions, expensive hobbies. By putting needs ahead of desires, you will be able to save faster and more efficiently to clear your debts.
Increase your income
If you are happy with your current job and your boss is happy with you, now is the time to ask for a raise or salary increase. If you do not work full time, start a second job, even short-term, to cover at least a few installments. Look for ways in which your interests could earn you extra money. Think about all the skills you have (such as writing, translation, web design, programming, beauty services) that you can offer in the job market. Sell all old clothes and junk online, rent a room at Airbnb, think "out of the box".
With enough creativity and perseverance, you will find the best way for you to save yourself from bad debt. But, of course, it is best not to fall into it at all, so plan your budget and spend wisely.
