Human Resources Policy

Due to demographic reasons, Bulgaria loses about 50,000 people on the labor market every year. Labor immigration procedures should be eased and simplified in accordance with good European practices, of course, with priority, but not only, of citizens of Bulgarian origin and graduates in Bulgaria, but according to the needs of the economy. It is also necessary to raise or remove the quota for the number of workers from third countries in one enterprise.
Education and Qualifications:
– Increasing the qualifications of the already existing staff, as well as of the newly hired workers and employees;
– Directing public VET resources to enterprises, instead of CPEs, unrelated to employer organizations, enterprises and schools;
– Monitoring of the mechanism for coordinating the admission plan and subject areas of education for the higher education system:
- Ensuring conditions for the operation of an accessible and adaptable to the labor market system of vocational education and training by developing the dual form of education, promoting training in technical specialties in the secondary and higher education systems by introducing protected specialties and those with an expected shortage of the labor market, introduction of higher coefficients for the maintenance of students in technical specialties and opportunities for completely free higher education in specialties sought by employers, coordination of the state plan - admission with employers in the field of secondary professional and higher education;
- Advocating for a position to reduce the number of students accepted for training in professions and specialties for which there is limited demand on the labor market and priority promotion of admission in professions needed by companies;
- Promotion and expansion of the relationship between industry chambers, associations and companies with higher technical schools for the pilot introduction of dual education of bachelors in the most important specialties for enterprises;
- Structuring reliable guarantees for a commitment to enter the Bulgarian economy for a certain period of work for pupils and students who complete their education with funding from the state budget (for example - for a period of 5 years);
- Active development of the "vocational high school-enterprise" partnership model according to established practices from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, including evaluation of implemented pilot projects and expansion of successful practices;
- Update of the training programs with the active participation of representatives of established companies leading in their field, incl. consulting teachers, introducing the position of "mentor" or "mentor" by those working in the real sector, attracting representatives of enterprises in the training process - both in vocational schools and in higher technical universities;
- Development of programs similar to the existing scheme "New start - from education to employment" of EA - Bulgaria and ESF, and the scope of financing partners can be expanded - there is interest from the business side to independently finance such initiatives;
- Individual incentives for building STEM knowledge and skills by analogy with good practices from the past, following the example of TNTM;
- Evaluation and financing of educational institutions according to the realization of the personnel prepared by them on the labor market;
- Provision of qualified personnel in close accordance with the needs of the business;
- Promotion of interdisciplinary education;
- Engaging the mayors of municipalities, the heads of the main companies that give the appearance of the industry in the municipalities, the directors of secondary schools, the labor offices and the regional inspectorates of education to bring the admissions by professions and specialties in line with the needs of the labor market, including.:
  1. limitation of the state admission plan for students in specialties for which there is no demand on the labor market;
  2. optimization of the network of vocational high schools in the municipalities;
  3. preparation of proposals for the most important for the development of business in the municipal professions, to be included in a list of protected professions.

Employment, Income, Insurance and Labor Law:
- Achieving maximum flexibility in terms of working hours, insurance seniority, vacations;
- Active and committed participation in the work of the National Council for Tripartite - - -
- Cooperation with regard to labor law acts submitted for discussion;
- Reform of the system of occupational medicine services in the country;
- Reforming the medical and labor expertise;
- Full-fledged health reform - with specified sources of funding, program budgets, final and intermediate goals, deadlines and responsibilities;
- An efficient market and competition instead of freezing drug prices or subsidizing prices;
- Work to achieve an optimal balance between the levels of the minimum wage and social benefits;
- Income policy, based on tripartite agreed objectives, parameters and mechanisms, should be a direct reflection of economic results and increased nominal labor productivity on wages, through annual bargaining between employer and trade unions:
- The removal of the MII. BICA's research shows unequivocally that the minimum insurance incomes/thresholds (MIL) have already played their role and the practice surrounding them mainly reflects negatively on the economy and employment policy;
- Abolition of the administrative determination of MWage and introduction of direct negotiation of MWage by branches or economic activities between trade unions and employers, also taking into account regional specifics. A mechanism for objective, rather than administrative, determination of the minimum wage;
- Removal of additional labor remuneration for acquired work experience and professional experience (so-called "classes");
– Study of approaches, principles and new forms of influence for determining labor remunerations, successfully applied in other countries;
– Stimulating the voluntary negotiation at the branch level of measures to limit or overcome unfair competition;
– Focusing social assistance on the truly socially weak – these are people who are both low-income and landless – this corresponds to both the principle of justice and the concept of effective management of a scarce financial resource – think first of the small and the weak;
- More efficient spending of social funds by limiting early retirement, revising the categorization and scope of categorical incentives in the state sphere, in particular - military, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other specialized law enforcement agencies, and categorically ending the abuse of disability and sick pensions;
– Termination of abrupt and uncoordinated actions in the implementation of the pension reform and its continuation in a spirit of consensus with the social partners to ensure a truly functioning and effective three-pillar pension system. Future changes in the way pensions are formed should be tailored to the individual contribution to the pension insurance system.

Access of foreign personnel to the labor market
– Encouraging investment immigration. Encouraging investment migration through the rules adopted in the EU and ensuring real control of the investments made through the Investment Agency. To organize the proposals for investment migration that are brought in, to license established companies that have experience and certifications for such activity.
- Facilitating access to the Bulgarian labor market for foreign personnel. To prepare proposals on the import of labor for companies in Bulgaria such as:
amended the Law on Labor Migration and Labor Mobility (LLMLM) and the conditions for issuing a Unified Permit for Residence and Work (UPRW) by reducing the number of required documents and restrictions on the number of employed persons and giving the right to the employer and the local government (mayor, regional governor), to issue the work permit and subsequent approval by the other state authorities. In this way, the period from application to actual start of work will be significantly reduced. This practice has been accepted as appropriate in a number of EU countries.
- To envisage relevant changes both in the Labor Code and the Law on Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria (ZChRB), which will ease the possibility of attracting labor from abroad, as well as removing the restrictions on the number of such labor for SMEs.
- ERPR to be simplified and to remove the various requirements for the method of accepting documents, including acceptance of documents by electronic means from an authorized organization abroad.

Policy in the field of culture. Promotion of the development of culture through targeted investments and support, development of children's potential and creativity, integration of education and culture, promotion of book publishing and book distribution.

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