Incomes are moving slowly up, but the feeling is of mass impoverishment. This was stated in the “NOVA Interview” by the president of the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions Plamen Dimitrov. He showed the graph of wage growth for the last four years. “The total increase in the average wage for a little over four years is about 23-24%, with the private sector growing faster than the public sector”, said Dimitrov.
Although we are moving up by percentage points, the effect on people's pockets is hardly felt, Dimitrov believes. He also commented on the data of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) for the first quarter of 2026.
According to him, only about 45% can reach the 818 euros per month needed for a worker living alone. The rest do not reach this amount and live with less money per month. He pointed out that key goods from the small consumer basket are over 100% of the average European prices. As an example, the president of the CITUB gave cheese, eggs and milk, which are 120-130% of the average European prices.
“We must be careful with expenses and if we have to cut somewhere, it cannot be from social expenses, but from capital expenses”, he also said.