Left-Wing Deputy PM Kalfin Demands Minimum Hourly Wage

Employers should be able to hire workers by the hour and a minimum hourly wage should be introduced to this end, Labor Minister Ivaylo Kalfin has said.

Its amount should be BGN 4, two times the current quotient of the minimum daily payment divided by the number of hours, Kalfin, who is also Deputy Prime Minister for Demographic and Social Policy, told private channel NOVA TV.

Kalfin, elected on October 5 on left-wing ABV (Alternative for Bulgarian Revival)'s ticket, added the idea had been part of his party's election platform.

He voiced his hope that discussions will be renewed in government next year on the long-standing issues of the pension system and the prospects to take a long-term decision on retirement age and the amount of social insurace.

Kalfin asserted he was in talks with the National Social Security Institute (NOI) about a Christmas bonus to pensions this year.

As for demographic policy, which he also oversees, he added the government would uphold its commitment to provide incentives for families willing to have two or more children.

In his words, such families are currenly just 25 percent of the total.