Bulgaria has been ranked fifth in Europa when it comes to the growing price of labour, with a growth of 14.6 per cent annually, according to a study by Eurostat, Dnevnik daily said.

Romania, where in the first half of 2007 the price of labour went up by 23.4 per cent compared to last year, ranked second.

The first place was for Latvia, with a growth of 31.7 per cent.

Romanian daily Adevarul said, as quoted by Dnevnik, that the shortage of workers has become a serious problem in Romania. The shortage has mainly been caused by Romanians leaving the country to work in Western Europe for more money while the average age of Romanian population at the same time rose.

Rising levels of income are hardly going to make those Romanians who left to work abroad return, as the difference between income in Western Europe and Romania continues to be high.