Those who want the minimum wage to be lower than 690.44 euros are talking mainly about labor productivity. This was written on his Facebook profile by the leader of "We continue the change" Assen Vassilev and explained why the minimum wage should be 690 euros.
Until now, the minimum wage was determined by an automatic formula - namely, to be equal to 50% of the average. Now the government plans to determine it by 4 criteria. For now, there is general agreement that the four criteria are the purchasing power of the minimum wage, taking into account the cost of living, the median wage, wage growth rates, and labor productivity levels.
Specifically, for next year, the limits are 620.2 euros and 672.8 euros. Within these limits, employers and unions will negotiate the specific minimum wage for the next year.
Here is what Assen Vassilev writes on the subject:
"According to Eurostat data for 2025, for 1 euro of minimum wage, the Bulgarian worker produces 6.25 euros of output, the average European worker - 5.50 euros of output, the Romanian worker - 5.15 euros of output, and the Greek and Polish worker - 4 euros of output", he begins.
"If we use ONLY labor productivity, the minimum wage must increase by 11.4% to reach the average European ratio of minimum wage to labor productivity. In other words, we still end up with 690 euros per month. There will always be someone who will offer a lower price based on cheap labor. Until recently, it was Asia. In a few years, it will be Africa's turn. The success of Bulgarian business and the development of the Bulgarian economy goes through a better product and higher productivity," explains the financier.
"However, increasing productivity is primarily the employer's task. A more efficient production process, better mechanization/automation, a better brand, and not competition based on the lowest price. This is also proven by a very simple everyday example: a Bulgarian worker boards a plane from Sofia to Frankfurt and suddenly his labor productivity jumps from 20 euros per hour to 73 euros per hour. He has neither acquired new skills nor changed his habits and thinking during the two-hour flight. He simply works with a better production process with better mechanization and automation. This analysis is important in order to remove political mantras from economic decisions once and for all," points out Vassilev.