The shortage of workers is hurting the entire economy, not just separate branches, research data from larger human resource agencies showed.
The shortage of workers at all levels would become a problem with large infrastructure projects like the Trakiya highway and the Belene nuclear power plant, as well as any new project, Dnevnik daily said.

Demand for workers was several times higher than supply in all sectors. In an attempt to keep existing staff on-board or attract new staff, companies increased salaries to levels which no longer corresponded to productivity levels, human resource managers said. Specialists expected that this year there would be companies who would be forced to either discontinue or move abroad, Dnevnik daily said.

Specialists have warned for an increasing shortage in personnel for some time. Georgi Parvanov, manager of Consulteam agency, said that unemployment across the country was close to zero. Official figures put unemployment in November 2007 at less than 7 per cent, while it was even lower during the summer.

Svetozar Petrov, manager of Jobtiger, said that what companies do this year would all centre around a staff shortage and how to deal with that.
"The construction of Belene nuclear power plant, construction of highways and new capacity at Maritsa Iztok 1 requires resources which simply do not exist. Even if we would assemble all welders in one place, there would still not be enough of them for all projects," Dnevnik daily quoted Petrov as saying.

Staff shortage would not only hurt large projects, Parvanov said.

Jobtiger said that for some sectors staff should be brought in from abroad, but Petrov added that workers should only be attracted from across the border after the country had formulated a clear policy. People should not be invited without a clear idea of what to do with them in 20 years, Dnevnik quoted him as saying.

According to Parvanov import of employees would be unavoidable. In the IT sector companies were already trying to attract specialists from neighbouring countries.

Salary increases over 2007 had ranked Bulgaria as one of the countries with highest salary growth in Europe, official statistics from the EU showed. Human resource companies and employers organisations put the salary increase in 2007 at close to 20 per cent, while Jobtiger said it expected a 15 per cent increase for 2008.

Human resource company Manpower said it expected salaries in 2008 to increase between 15 and 20 per cent, while some specific professions could see as much as a 30 per cent increase. In some sectors, staff shortage lead to salaries which were disproportional to productivity. During the summer, waiters at the sea side signed contracts for 1000 leva per month, Jobtiger said. The situation was similar in construction. Some companies were ready to pay between 6 and 20 000 leva per month for an experienced marketing specialist according to Jobtiger. Other over-priced sectors included accounting, sales and financial analysts, Manpower said.

Manpower and Consulteam said they doubted that the increased salaries would lead to bankruptcies, but they were sure to slow down growth.
Dressmakers had warned in 2007 that they were considering moving production abroad. Potential destinations were Moldova, Macedonia and other countries with similar circumstances, Dnevnik daily said.