The meeting of the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation ended without an agreement on the draft decree of the Council of Ministers, according to which the minimum wage should be increased by 15.4% from January 1, 2025, or the current 933 BGN reached BGN 1,077, novini.bg reports. After years of wrangling between business, unions and the state, according to the draft it is now calculated as a percentage of the national average.
During the discussion, the project was supported by the unions, while the employers declared themselves "against".
This is 50% of the gross average wage. No agreement was reached between the social partners. We will continue to work to implement the minimum wage directive with the relevant criteria. The talks will continue in order to transpose this directive on time, explained the Acting Minister of Labor and Social Policy Ivaylo Ivanov.
According to the president of KNSB Plamen Dimitrov, the statement that foreign investors are leaving Bulgaria because of the increase in the minimum wage and people on the minimum wage in our country lose their jobs when it increases, is not supported by statistical data. He noted that despite the increase in incomes, the employment rate in our country is growing.
There is no legal or economic reason for the minimum wage not to rise. On the contrary, it makes an economic contribution to the growth of consumption, and hence to the growth of the gross domestic product, Dimitrov stressed at a briefing after the meeting of the Tripartite.
Employers are expected to insist that the increase not be that much, as they say private business may not be able to pay it.
It is questionable how this will affect the budget. In recent days, it has become clear that the expenditure part will increase significantly, which will also increase the deficit.
The Ministry of Finance has developed a comprehensive package of measures, the leading ones being the measures for economic development and social prosperity. The budget is not revenue and expenditure, it must ensure the economic development of the country. The measures will be discussed next week at expert level to hear the opinion of the partners. After that, they will be discussed with the association of municipalities, Minister of Finance Lyudmila Petkova said after the NSTS meeting.
A working group is being created in the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy to reach an agreement between the social partners on determining the minimum wage for the country for 2025, it became clear at the briefing.