The Bulgarian man is in the top positions in terms of the shortest working life in Europe. This is indicated by Eurostat labor market data. The expected duration of the working life in Bulgaria is the third lowest in the European Union - 34.6 years. Only Romanians and Italians work shorter. The topic was commented on by the senior economist at the "Open Society" Institute Georgi Angelov on the air of “Hello, Bulgaria”.
He pointed out that this is not related to demographic factors and gave the following example - Italians and Spaniards live the longest, and it is precisely the Italians who have a short duration of work. According to Eurostat, 80% of the explanation of this statistic is related to the labor market - when one enters this market, how often one exits and when one exits it - i.e. retirement.
“If we start from entering the labor market, the main problem is that there is a large group of young people in our country who neither work nor study. We are in second place after Romania in terms of the share of young people who neither work nor study - 13.8%”, Angelov added.
In Northern Europe, a large part of students are included in the labor market, he also emphasized. He also noted that the gray sector in our country is very high, but it mainly includes people who declare lower incomes, and not "hiding" of employees, for this reason this factor is not one of the main ones for the statistics. Angelov also said that in Bulgaria there is early retirement in some sectors, and those who do not have it, circumvent the law through TELK and disability pensions.
The expert commented that no efforts are being made to include people with disabilities in the labor market, but here Romania is worse as an indicator. The expert also said that employment is also low among people with low education - below 27%, while among university graduates, over 90% are working.
Among the Roma ethnic group, data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development indicate 22% employment, 44% among the Turkish and 67% among the Bulgarian.
Angelov said that in Romania 2% of pensioners work, in Greece - 4%, in Bulgaria it is 17%, which is due to a shortage of personnel. In Estonia, for example, half of pensioners work, he added.
Angelov was categorical that there should be more flexible employment, part-time work, as this is rarely observed in our country. The salaries that are received with such a way of working are also a factor, he emphasized.