Bulgaria's government has approved changes to the rules on how the minimum wage is set, the cabinet press office said. Under the new system, the minimum wage will be set using social and economic criteria, after talks between the main national trade unions and employers' organisations.
This report follows our earlier story on the parliamentary labour committee meeting, where MPs discussed the new minimum wage mechanism in a second reading. The formula itself is left to a government decree.
Every year by 15 August, the government will announce a lower and an upper limit for the minimum wage for the following year. The lower limit equals the current minimum wage.
The upper limit comes from a formula in which the indicators for the four criteria in the Labour Code carry different weight. The criteria are the buying power of the minimum wage given the cost of living, the overall level of wages and how they are spread, the pace of wage growth, and long-term levels of labour productivity. The data comes from the National Statistical Institute. The cabinet makes the decision, taking into account the report of the social partners.
Once every three years, a commission that includes the social partners will check whether the minimum wage is adequate. It will use two benchmarks: 60% of the gross median wage and the cost of living for the previous year.
The decree also sets how to calculate the minimum extra pay for night work.
The government says the changes will give a better balance between the social and economic roles of the minimum wage.
The Podkrepa trade union confederation does not accept the formula. The union's chief economist Atanas Katsarchev told journalists on 12 October that it cuts workers' pay by at least €20 a month, or €480 a year.
Plamen Dimitrov, president of the CITUB union confederation, said a few days ago that the indicators give a good reflection and balance of the social and economic parameters. He said the new minimum wage cannot be lower than the current one.