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Venelin Terziev
COVID-19 AND THE NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT PLAN IN BULGARIA - ANALYSIS AND OPPORTUNITIES
FOR CHANGE
Summary:
This paper is the second part of an extensive study which analyzes and examines the processes on the Bulgarian market that unfold in the emergency situation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemics. The focus is on the state of the labour market before the pandemic crisis and the subsequent changes in the current national employment plan in view of the challenges of the situation caused by COVID-19. It proposes measures and supports actions for restructuring the financial resource for adaptation of the plan to the new challenge to the labour market in Bulgaria.
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Hristina Blagoycheva
Adjusting Unemployment Benefits to the Economic Cycle
Summary:
As a socio-economic phenomenon, unemployment is intrinsic to any market economy. Unemployment benefits provide incomes to individuals who have lost their jobs and the possibility of bearing the severity of risk collectively. The generosity of unemployment benefits may affect the incentives for searching and accepting a job, as well as the duration of unemployment. They could therefore act as an inbuilt economic stabiliser which is adjusted to a particular economic cycle. The article aims to identify potential pros and cons and examine the extent to which unemployment benefits in Europe and Bulgaria successfully act as inbuilt automatic stabilisers.
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Modelling Involuntary Part-Time and Fixed-Term Employment
among Young People and Adults in Bulgaria
Summary:
With the labour market becoming increasingly flexible, there has been a growing trend towards non-standard models of temporary employment that allow persons who, for some reason, prefer fixed-term or part-time employment to earn income. Hence, some EU member states have been employing policies and measures to facilitate the access to flexible employment at all levels within organizations, including access to vocational training, so as to provide better career growth and professional mobility opportunities. Furthermore, some categories of employees and workers do not enter into similar employment arrangements voluntarily but are forced to do so by a number of factors such as family commitments, age or disability constraints, education and training, the need to relocate, cyclical economic crises, etc. We propose a methodology for studying the voluntary/involuntary character of two major types of flexible employment – part-time and fixed-term employment, from the perspective of employees, employers and the labour market. The focus of attention is on the groups exposed to the highest risk on the national labour market, i.e. young people aged 15-29 and adults aged 55-64.
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Silvia Toneva, Kristina Stefanova
PROMOTING THE PARTICIPATION OF SMEs IN DUAL TRAINING IN THE CONTEXT OF REGIONAL DISPARITIES IN BULGARIA
Summary:
The aim of the paper is to make recommendations for the development of the dual system in Bulgaria in terms of increasing the participation of SMEs and taking into account the regional specificities of the educational structure of the population and youth unemployment. Financial incentives, a large-scale information campaign and visibility of participating enterprises are some of the important factors to encourage SMEs to become partners in the dual system. In order to ensure a wider participation of enter¬prises, it is important to gradually increase financial incentives (through support in the form of grants, tax relief, etc.). The existing differences between regions in Bulgaria suggest that a more substantial incentive for SMEs to become partners in dual training could be achieved by applying a regional criterion. When planning measures for the development of the dual training system in Bulgaria, efforts should be made to cover more persons at risk of dropping out of the education system and persons who will not enter higher education.
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Venelin Terziev
THE NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT PLAN IN BULGARIA - POLICIES, PRIORITIES AND NECESSARY CHANGES DUE
TO COVID-19
Summary:
The paper comprises two interrelated parts and focuses on the analysis and study of the processes on the Bulgarian market, which unfold in the emergency situation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemics. In the first part, an attempt is made for a systematic analysis of the current national employment plan, its priorities and the needed revisions thereof in the conditions of a critical situation.
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Cornelia Philipova
Unemployment Benefits in Bulgaria and Their Potential for Prevention of Poverty
Summary:
Prevention of poverty and social exclusion is a process directly related to public incentives for vulnerable groups aiming to achieve a decent and independent life. Labour income is one of the main prerequisites for overcoming the problem. However, a large number of the working population is economically inactive and do not even look for forms of employment. Low education levels, the lack of working habits and the limited demand for skilled labour are objective factors for this. The characteristics of the tax and social security system as well as the state policy with regard to income and the labour market towards vulnerable groups also affect the desire to work and employment opportunities.
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Elka N. Syarova
CHANGES AND TRENDS IN THE EMPLOYMENT STATUS
OF UNIVERSITY GRADUATES IN BULGARIA AND THE EU
Summary:
This research focuses on the ongoing changes and the new challenges faced by labor in the process of transition to a new type of economy. It is structured in two parts. The first part systematizes the main changes in the characteristics and requirements to labor in the context of the formation of a new economy and the transition to a digital one. The second part makes an empirical analysis and draws up the specific aspects in the dynamics of the indicators of the employment status of university graduates in Bulgaria and the EU which are relevant to the latest changes in the increasing imple¬mentation of more complicated mental labor. By applying methods of fore¬casting, the author brings forward certain short-term trends in the fluctuations of the relative ratio of the employed persons with a university degree in Bulgaria and the EU. The research implements the methods of analysis and synthesis, the means and methods of empirical-descriptive, as well as the econometric analysis.
