Bulgaria Has No Incomes Policy - Experts
NW 17:55:01 11-10-2021
DS1753NW.114
114 ECONOMY - SOCIETY - INCOMES - FORUM
Bulgaria Has No
Incomes Policy
- Experts
Sofia, October 11 (BTA) - There is no incomes policy in Bulgaria, the subject of incomes and inequalities is not on the agenda of society or the political forces, said Georgi Pirinski, Chairman of the Solidarity Society Foundation, addressing Monday an online discussion of incomes policies in Bulgaria in the context of the European Pillar of Social Rights.
The forum was organized by the Solidarity Society Foundation and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
The latest data show an eightfold difference between the incomes of the riches and the poorest Bulgarians, an indicator which in the EU countries averages at 5.5-fold, making this country an inequality record. "Paradoxically, the poorest country is that with the greatest social inequality," said the Programme Director of Friendrich Ebert Foundation, Pencho Hubchev.
In the opinion of Mirena Filipova, a contributor to the barikada.org e-zine, the instruments to overcome inequalities are raising the minimum wage and approving a mechanism for its calculation, a revision of the taxation system and the introduction of a tax-free minimum, waiver of the maximum insurance contributory income, as well as application of differentiated VAT rates for basic goods.
The deputy labour and social policy deputy ministers Nadya Klisourska and Ivan Krustev both participated in the discussion and revealed that next year the minimum wage would be raised and that various scenarios to that end had been drafted. They said they hoped the National Assembly would pass a mechanism for calculating the minimum wage so that it could grow fairly and correspond to the expectations of Bulgarians.
Jacques Paparo, Director of Friedrich Ebert Foundation Bulgaria, recalled some of the main goals of the European Pillar of Social Rights up to 2030. These include that at least 78 per cent of the population aged between 20 and 64 be employed by 2030, at least 60 per cent of all adults participate in training every year, and the number of people at risk of poverty be reduced to 15 million by 2030. In Paparo's words, one of the main principles set down in the pillar is that people are entitled to remunerations that provide them with a decent living standard.
In the context of a discussion to what extent the lack of education is the reason for the low incomes and bad employment level or vice versa, Irina Danailova, a lecturer in human resources and social protection at the University of National and World Economy, said that the higher the education the lower the risk of poverty, with 65.7 per cent having primary or no education and only 2.4 per cent having higher education among the poor. She quoted a study revealing that not a single person in all ethnic groups has defined himself/herself as poor. There is a myth in Bulgaria, she said, that many people have university education, but data show that by 2019 the relative share of the population aged 24-64 with university education was 27 per cent.
Danailova also quoted data, according to which people in Bulgaria participate in very few formal and informal trainings. A total of 2.9 per cent of Bulgarians aged 25-64 participate in formal education and training (against 14.5 per cent in Finland) and 22.5 per cent participate in informal education and training (against 61.55 in the Netherlands).
Vanya Grigorova of Podkrepa Confederation of Labour called upon the participants not to mix the themes of incomes and education, for there is currently mainly a demand for workers with low qualification.
At the moment, there are over 500,000 Bulgarians working for minimum wages, it emerged at the forum. This, the experts said, ranks Bulgaria among the first countries by working poor and makes the need of prompt raising of the minimum remuneration inevitable. LN/BR/
/ДЛ/
DS1753NW.114
114 ECONOMY - SOCIETY - INCOMES - FORUM
Bulgaria Has No
Incomes Policy
- Experts
Sofia, October 11 (BTA) - There is no incomes policy in Bulgaria, the subject of incomes and inequalities is not on the agenda of society or the political forces, said Georgi Pirinski, Chairman of the Solidarity Society Foundation, addressing Monday an online discussion of incomes policies in Bulgaria in the context of the European Pillar of Social Rights.
The forum was organized by the Solidarity Society Foundation and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
The latest data show an eightfold difference between the incomes of the riches and the poorest Bulgarians, an indicator which in the EU countries averages at 5.5-fold, making this country an inequality record. "Paradoxically, the poorest country is that with the greatest social inequality," said the Programme Director of Friendrich Ebert Foundation, Pencho Hubchev.
In the opinion of Mirena Filipova, a contributor to the barikada.org e-zine, the instruments to overcome inequalities are raising the minimum wage and approving a mechanism for its calculation, a revision of the taxation system and the introduction of a tax-free minimum, waiver of the maximum insurance contributory income, as well as application of differentiated VAT rates for basic goods.
The deputy labour and social policy deputy ministers Nadya Klisourska and Ivan Krustev both participated in the discussion and revealed that next year the minimum wage would be raised and that various scenarios to that end had been drafted. They said they hoped the National Assembly would pass a mechanism for calculating the minimum wage so that it could grow fairly and correspond to the expectations of Bulgarians.
Jacques Paparo, Director of Friedrich Ebert Foundation Bulgaria, recalled some of the main goals of the European Pillar of Social Rights up to 2030. These include that at least 78 per cent of the population aged between 20 and 64 be employed by 2030, at least 60 per cent of all adults participate in training every year, and the number of people at risk of poverty be reduced to 15 million by 2030. In Paparo's words, one of the main principles set down in the pillar is that people are entitled to remunerations that provide them with a decent living standard.
In the context of a discussion to what extent the lack of education is the reason for the low incomes and bad employment level or vice versa, Irina Danailova, a lecturer in human resources and social protection at the University of National and World Economy, said that the higher the education the lower the risk of poverty, with 65.7 per cent having primary or no education and only 2.4 per cent having higher education among the poor. She quoted a study revealing that not a single person in all ethnic groups has defined himself/herself as poor. There is a myth in Bulgaria, she said, that many people have university education, but data show that by 2019 the relative share of the population aged 24-64 with university education was 27 per cent.
Danailova also quoted data, according to which people in Bulgaria participate in very few formal and informal trainings. A total of 2.9 per cent of Bulgarians aged 25-64 participate in formal education and training (against 14.5 per cent in Finland) and 22.5 per cent participate in informal education and training (against 61.55 in the Netherlands).
Vanya Grigorova of Podkrepa Confederation of Labour called upon the participants not to mix the themes of incomes and education, for there is currently mainly a demand for workers with low qualification.
At the moment, there are over 500,000 Bulgarians working for minimum wages, it emerged at the forum. This, the experts said, ranks Bulgaria among the first countries by working poor and makes the need of prompt raising of the minimum remuneration inevitable. LN/BR/
/ДЛ/
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