Bulgaria's population has been aging and the reasons include low birth rate, high mortality and emigration. Most of these processes are reflected in the labor market, too. Due to negative demographic processes Bulgaria lacks labor force, statistics show. The working age population /15-64/ continues to decline. At the end of 2013 it reached 4 million 472 thousand people, which shows a decline of 0.7 percent or 33,000 people for a year. This is the number of the citizens of a town like Dupnitsa, for example. National statistics also indicate that labor force was not influenced much as time of service for retirement grew by another 4 months. Therefore, many Bulgarians continued to work in order to reach the new retirement age. Problems on the labor market will not disappear in the near future as during the past year negative population growth was marked in all areas of the country.

In 2013 for every 100 Bulgarians who retired there were 62 young people /aged 15-19/ entering the labor market. In comparison in 2001 for every 100 people leaving the labor market, there were 124 youths. In 15 years there will be a bigger drop in the number of working people due to current demographic processes, former social minister Ivan Neykov form the UDF government /1997 to 2001/, recently told a TV channel.

 According to him, increased labor productivity will help but the problem is that the labor market already feels the lack of qualified personnel for high-tech industries and those with high added value.

A 15-20 percent payment rise in education, health, public administration and culture is what the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria calls for in budget 2015. Some 125 million euro will be needed for this. If adopted the pay rise would affect between 170 000 and 200 000 people with higher and secondary education, working in these spheres. According to the leader of the CITUB Plamen Dimitrov, there are several reasons why Bulgaria should raise salaries. One of them is increased labor productivity, which is not reflected in salaries. Lifting labor restrictions on Bulgarians in the EU makes a number of qualified experts leave the country. Bulgaria already lacks engineers and nurses, while each year between 500 and 600 doctors leave the country. Independent trade unions have a set of proposals for changes in the Labor Code, which are to address issues like low payment and deliberately delaying salaries. The measures are expected to be discussed soon by the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation.

Bulgarians spend averagely 3 euro annually for going to the cinema, theater or to a concert, announced the Observatory of Cultural Economics NGO. In the capital city of Sofia where cultural life is more dynamic people spend twice as much. Two-thirds of the Bulgarian population has not visited a cinema for more than a year. The reasons are diverse and include lack of cinema halls in smaller towns and lack of interest towards culture. Bulgarians spent averagely 8.5 euro for new books in 2012. In Sofia people spent 13 euro. Statistics show that nearly half of the population has not read a single book for a year. NGOs say Bulgarians prefer watching television and surfing the Internet.

English version: Alexander Markov