Forthcoming Policy Developments 

The National Youth Strategy 2021-2030 (Национална стратегия за младежта 2021-2030) is approved by the Council of Ministers on 22.07.2021 and is pending adoption by the National Assembly. 

In contrast to the previous national youth policy, promotion of employment and support of NEETs is among the main strategic objectives of the National Youth Strategy 2021-2030.

The following measures are foreseen for the next ten-years’ period:

• ensuring opportunities for training, professional qualification and key competences, depending on the labour market demand;
• encouraging opportunities for employment, including high-quality paid traineeships, internships and apprenticeships of young people with fewer opportunities;
• encouraging the outreach and activation of young people in the group of NEETs;
• development and implementation of services for social inclusion of young people in the group of NEETs.

Furthermore, the government increases the minimum wage to BGN 710 (EUR 363) as from the 1^st of April 2022. The government believes that such increase is necessary in order to take into account the occurred changes and to support the realisation of positive changes in terms of employment and competitiveness. The amount of the minimum wage has influence on the determination of remunerations of most of employees and is the major tool for the income policy. The update of the minimum wage will have positive effect on real income of employees and the ability of the Bulgarian business to successfully shape the management models in accordance with the economic development and perspective.

Ongoing Debates

There are no ongoing debates in terms of labour market initiatives aimed at young people.