Bulgaria Govt Invests BGN 1 B to Fight Unemployment in 2010

Bulgaria's Labor Minister Mladenov (right) has set qualification policies as a priority for his institution. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's Labor Ministry is going to invest about BGN 1 B on the labor market in 2010 in order to tackle the unemployment that is expected to result from the economic crisis.

BGN 250 M are going to come from the EU funds under the "Development of Human Resources" Operational Program. The state budget will provide BGN 400 M; half of those will be spent on active labor market measures, and the other half - on passive measures.

The other BGN 400 M are funds to retained by the Bulgarian businesses when the employers' social security payments are reduced by 2% starting January 1.

The priorities of the Labor Ministry in 2010 will have to do with developing new policies on training and qualification.

Minister Mladenov cited data from a World Bank report saying that 25% of the people between 15 and 24 years of age in Bulgaria did not study, work, or had any desire to pursue such activities.

One of the short-term measures to be adopted by the Ministry is increasing from the period for receiving unemployment benefits from 6 to 9 months if the unemployed person is involved in some kind of qualification training.

 

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