December 29 (Valeria Dimitrova and Ekaterina Toteva of
BTA) - With Omicron knocking on Bulgaria's door, inflation going
 up and electricity prices on the rise, the concerns associated
with the outgoing year 2021 are not coming to an end. Social
measures and policies remain high on the nation's agenda.

Political and expert talks in the social domain in Bulgaria in
2021 were centred on the most vulnerable people during the
COVID-19 pandemic: pensioners. Under a decision which became
effective on Christmas Day, contributory service will have more
weight when calculating work-contingent pensions. According to
the new formula, each year of contributory service will be
weighted by a factor of 1.35 without conversion, up from 1.2
before. To make sure that all pensioners are treated fairly, the
 National Social Security Institute will re-calculate over 2
million work-contingent pensions and pension supplements. The
re-calculation will result in the largest increase of pensions
since 2008.

Besides the greater weight of contributory service, other
changes concerning pensions also entered into effect. The
minimum monthly pension for contributory service and old age
rose from 300 leva to 370 leva, and the maximum monthly amount
of pensions received by one person, not counting supplements,
increased from 1,440 leva to 1,500 leva.

While the step back to fair pension size rules was made
resolutely and without political resistance, experts still argue
 whether it was right to provide the so-called COVID-19 benefit
to older people as a pension supplement. The amount of the
monthly supplement varies according to the situation (50, 60 or
120 leva), but it will not be scrapped at this stage because,
once given, it is difficult to be taken away, as some experts
have argued.

Concerning economically active people, the main objective has
been to contain unemployment during the crisis. Registered
unemployment in November was 4.8 per cent, which was described
by the Employment Agency as record low. The rate fell by 1.9
percentage points year on year.

Whether the unemployment level will remain steady depends on the
 measures to be taken in the coming months. The President of the
 Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria, Plamen
Dimitrov, warned of an unemployment shock this winter,
considering that large enterprises in the heavy industry intend
to lay off workers on a massive scale.

The 60/40 job retention scheme remained active throughout 2021,
albeit with some alterations. In late October, National Social
Security Institute experts described the scheme as one of the
most widely used instruments to mitigate the effects of the
pandemic on the labour market, with over 1.5 billion leva
disbursed among 13,300 employees and 320 employers.

The new Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Georgi Gyokov,
said recently: "I have been assured both by the Prime Minister
and the Finance Minister that the people will be taken care of.
Our first motto is, Zero Tolerance Towards Corruption, and our
second one is, Care for the People, because we want to take the
Bulgarians through this difficult crisis and enable them to live
 decently." According to Gyokov, the new government wants to
make sure that no one lives below the poverty line.

The labour and social policy measures set in the government
coalition agreement include: making the benefit for the second
year of maternity equal to the minimum wage or at least the
current 650 leva; ensuring cost-free attendance of state and
municipal nurseries and kindergartens; and setting up a voucher
scheme to support families with children who have not been
admitted to kindergarten. RY/VE

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