Bulgaria's Retirement Age for Both Sexes to Match after 2020

Business | May 14, 2012, Monday // 13:41|  views

Bulgaria's Minister of Social Policy and Labor, Totyu Mladenov. Photo by BGNES

Retirement age in Bulgaria for males and females will be the same after 2020, according to the Minister of Social Policy and Labor, Totyu Mladenov.

Mladenov explained Monday that in 2017 retirement age for men would reach 65 while by 2020 the one for females will be 63, and it will increase, along with the required years of service, by 4 months each year for both sexes. He added that making retirement age the same after 2020 can only happen gradually.

The Minister further informed that debates on retirement age of army personnel and employees of the Interior Ministry with the participation of the labor unions are pending.

The minimum retirement age in Bulgaria was increased by 4 months as of January 1, 2012, as part of a controversial retirement reform package that kicked in.

The same measure will be applied on the first day of each of the upcoming several years, until the retirement age in Bulgaria reaches 65 years for men and 63 for women.

Up until the new pension reform was approved in December 2011, Bulgaria's retirement age was 63 years for men and 60 years for women.

In addition, the minimum time served by police and military officers in Bulgaria required for retirement has been increased by 2 years, reaching 27 years.

In December, Bulgaria's Parliament expectedly rejected the veto imposed by outgoing President Georgi Parvanov on retirement age changes.

The controversial "retirement reform" to up the pension age was initiated by Finance Minister Simeon Djankov in the fall of 2011 as a way of saving budget funds sooner rather than later; an earlier agreement with syndicates and business organizations was supposed to delay the increase of the retirement age in Bulgaria till 2021.

Also on Monday, Totyu Mladenov voiced hope that by 2013 unemployment among young Bulgarians would decrease by 4%-5% and that an agreement with the business and the labor unions will be signed by the end of May regarding offering first jobs for youth.

The Minister declared the Cabinet is undertaking a number of measures to reduce youth unemployment.

According to flash results from the Labor Force Survey, carried out and published by the National Statistical Institute, NSI, in the first quarter of 2012 the unemployment rate in the country has reached the staggering 12.9%.

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Tags: Minister of Social Policy and Labor, Totyu Mladenov, unemployment, labor unions, youth, young people, Retirement age, retirement system, Retirement, retirement reform, pensioners, pensioner, pension reforms, pension reform, veto, Simeon Djankov, finance minister, Georgi Parvanov, Bulgarian President

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