Bulgarian Businesses 'Should Be Able to Hire Foreign Nationals More Easily'

Businesses should be able to hire non-Bulgarian nationals more easily, the head of an employer union said on Monday.

Regulatory requirements obligating businesses to employ non-Bulgarians offering salaries at least three times the country's average should be removed, Vasil Velev, who heads the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association (BICA), told the Bulgarian National Radio.

He stressed that the norm approved under current EU regulations a national of another country should receive 1.5 times as much as employees of the country he is to begin work in.

"We double this threshold. It is not clear why... This is a threshold that makes no sense, restricts access [to the labor market], makes it difficult to hire [foreigners] and makes the norm devoid of sense."

Velev pointed out that the ethnic Bulgarian communities abroad, like those in Moldova and Ukraine (the latter country is home to hundreds of thousands of ethnic Bulgarians) are a potential talent pool. In his words it come become a source of skilled labour for sectors such as IT and engineering.

However, he warned most migrants are unlikely to integrate in to society, because most of them could only do low-skill jobs.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!