National plan for employment focuses on overcoming labour market crisis

The Bulgarian government adopted the 2011 National Action Plan for Employment in late December 2010. The draft of the NAEP was drawn up in cooperation with the social partners, and was discussed in the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation. The government will use the plan to start implementing measures aimed at achieving the Europe 2020 employment goals, especially for young and older people, and for those who are disabled or who have no qualifications.

Background

Bulgaria’s National Action Plan for Employment 2011 – NAEP 2011 (in Bulgarian, 1.3Mb PDF) –focuses on overcoming or limiting the negative consequences of the labour market crisis. Its main goals are to reduce unemployment, foster a high-quality workforce and effectively integrate disadvantaged groups into the labour market.

The government has allocated about BGN 73 million (about €37.3 million) for the programmes, which will provide work for 34,600 people. An additional BGN 300 million (€153 million) has been projected for labour market-related schemes under the Operational Programme for Human Resources Development. For the first time, the plan includes subsidies for the creation of environmentally-friendly ‘green’ jobs.

This is the eleventh such plan, implemented every year since 2000. Its budget has increased by BGN 8 million (€4 million) compared with NAEP 2010. The plan strongly supports regional programmes, which will help 153 municipalities (out of a total of 264) to create twice as many jobs as last year.

Target groups

The main targets of the 2011 programme are to help:

• unemployed people aged under 29 years;

• those who have been unemployed for more than six months;

• those who are unemployed with few or no qualifications;

• unemployed people whose skills are not in demand in the labour market;

• jobless people lacking key skills such as computer and language proficiency;

• disabled persons;

• those who are willing to work, but are inactive for different reasons, such as discouraged jobseekers.

As with the previous national plans, these people will be helped by counsellors in labour offices who will help them to develop individual action plans, and to overcome any personal and professional characteristics hampering their attempts to get good-quality, long-term employment.

The programme also introduces the practice of monitoring the performance of people from the most difficult target groups who have found employment, in order to determine whether such employment is sustainable.

Key priorities and actions

The plan has several key priorities. It aims to:

• achieve higher employment through quick and efficient job placement of unemployed people, as well as through activation policies aimed at inactive and discouraged individuals;

• train both employed and unemployed people in order to ensure higher productivity, and to increase the competitiveness of the Bulgarian economy;

• develop social dialogue.

In order to achieve these priorities, NAEP 2011 will bring together government institutions, social partners and civil society actors in the following areas:

• training;

• subsidised employment for workers who are made redundant and those from disadvantaged groups;

• job mobility;

• dedicated counselling to activate unemployed and inactive persons;

• so-called ‘green jobs’ for people unemployed for longer than six months;

• cooperation with private labour agencies to exchange information and ensure better protection of jobseekers;

• collaboration with social partners to manage mass redundancies and increase flexibility and security of the labour market;

• improving social security and social inclusion.

Results expected from NEAP 2011

The 2011 plan has these specific targets:

• an employment rate of 66% for those aged 20–64 years (up from 64.7% in 2010);

• an employment rate of 23% for those aged 15–24 (up from 22.6% );

• an employment rate of 44% for those aged 55–64 (up from 43.7%);

• an unemployment rate of 9.4% (down from 9.7%);

• a ‘new start’ for 25% of those aged under 29 who are registered unemployed, with employment or training to start no later than four months from their entry into the labour market;

• a ‘new start’ for 30% of those aged over 29 who are registered unemployed, with employment or training to start no later than 12 months from their entry into the labour market;

• the provision of employment for 34,597 people (28,632 of whom will take up newly created jobs).

The national plan will cost BGN 73 million (€37.3 million) and come from the state budget. This will be broken down as follows:

• around 78%, or BGN 56.9 million (€29 million) will be used to subsidise employment programmes and projects;

• 21%, or BGN 15.33 million (€7.8 million) will be used to implement the Law for Promotion of Employment;

• 1%, or €0.37 million (BGN 0.73 million) will be spent on training for professional qualifications.

The Operational Programme for Human Resources Development provides BGN 300 million (€153 million) for apprenticeships, employment and social integration of large numbers of unemployed people.

Commentary

Implementation of the plan and its specific actions will be carried out through dialogue and cooperation with the social partners in order to achieve the best possible results in overcoming the crisis. The plan also envisages more regional employment and training programmes, in order to respond better to the needs of local labour markets.

However, according to the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) the plan is flawed because it does not include measures to help Bulgarian migrant workers, both within the European Union and in third countries. Other social partners, including employers, agree with the trade unions, as the emigration of these workers (particularly highly qualified individuals) depleted the national workforce.

Bozhidar Arsov, Institute for Social and Trade Union Research (ISTUR)