The People's Representative Tsoncho Ganev, who is also the Deputy Chairman of “Vazrazhdane “ and of the National Assembly from “Vazrazhdane” and Georgi Hrisimirov - coordinator of 24 MIR Sofia requested information from the institutions regarding the import of workers from third countries.
“From the information we received, we can conclude that the main institutional problem is that there is no single system that would unite all the information related to the import of workers from third countries. Each institution, each ministry works with its own data and of course there are discrepancies in indicators for the same criteria. Another serious problem is that the Ministry of Interior does not have data on the gender and age group in which these imported workers fall. This is a problem related to national security.” Georgi Hrisimirov is categorical.
“Vazrazhdane” recalls that in his last interview on BNT, the Minister of Labor and Social Policy announced that the import of workers from third countries is related to the lack of qualified labor in Bulgaria. However, it is evident from the data received by the institutions in response to the inquiry of the representatives of “Vazrazhdane” that this is not the case. In 2025, about 49 thousand third-country nationals gained access to the Bulgarian labor market, compared to about 35 thousand a year earlier. This is an increase of over 40% in just one year.
But the increase does not come mainly from highly qualified specialists. These workers are mainly employed in the hotel and restaurant industry, the processing industry, trade, construction, transport, agriculture and administrative and auxiliary activities. These sectors do not require highly qualified labor. This is also proven by the indicators for short-term/seasonal employment of up to 90 days, which increased from 10,391 to 19,057 people. This is an increase of 83%.
In addition, data from the Employment Agency show that in seasonal employment, 96% of contracts are for personnel in the service sector and for workers in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, and wages rarely exceed the minimum wage.
“Unfortunately, we do not see employers being stimulated to increase wages, improve working conditions, train Bulgarian workers and invest in mechanization and higher productivity, and instead the state facilitates the import of labor. This will inevitably lead to entering the middle income trap.
This state strategy keeps our economy based on low wages, and sooner or later this stops working, because businesses always find places with even lower wage costs. Data from the Employment Agency also proves the thesis of the middle income trap even in the IT sector. In this sector in 2025, 80% of the salaries of third-country workers are in the range of 3,600 leva, 15% are between 5,000 and 10,000 leva, and the remaining 5% have a salary of over 10,000 leva.
This does not correspond to the average salaries for Bulgarian workers. In the last 1-2 years, there has also been a decline in the demand for specialists in the field and many young IT specialists are having difficulty finding a job.” Georgi Hrisimirov also adds, warning that the import of workers from third countries will make it increasingly difficult for Bulgarian citizens to find work for decent pay.