Unemployment in Bulgaria could exceed 10 per cent by the end of 2009, and is not expected to drop again before the end of 2010, according to the National Employment Agency.
 
On September 29 2009, the Economic and Social Council met Labour and Social Policy Ministry leadership to present the council’s analysis of Bulgaria’s unemployment situation.
 
Youth unemployment emerged as a serious issue, with a quarter of people aged between 15 and 25 neither working nor studying, while the number of people currently unemployed was close to double that for which labour market support measures had been provided, Labour and Social Policy Minister Totyu Mladenov said.
 
Mladenov said that his ministry would propose further measures such as a three-month addition to the current period during which unemployment benefits were paid, but only those who registered for training courses would be eligible to benefit.
 
The Economic and Social Council report said that some measures provided for by the Employment Promotion Act because they were ineffective, Dnevnik reported.
 
Plamen Dimitrov of the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions said that ineffective programmes included one to give people younger than 29 training in computer skills, when most of them already had the basic knowledge required.
 
The council report said that additional funds should be allocated to the Labour and Social Ministry’s anti-crisis programme, because funds allocated for the programme for this year had been used up.
 
One of the measures for which funds had been exhausted was for supporting firms that put employees on half-time. Six million leva had been spent on this, retaining 20 000 jobs, Dimitrov said.
 
The council report criticised the Beautiful Bulgaria and From Social Assistance to Employment programmes. Beautiful Bulgaria was managed in an opaque manner and was of questionable relevance, while for From Social Assistance to Employment to be effective, it should be managed at regional and not national level.
 
The report will be reviewed by the Cabinet.
 
Mladenov said that in 2010, 200 million leva would be provided from the Budget for labour market support measures, while 250 million leva from the EU’s human resources operational programme would also be used to combat unemployment.