Youth employment measures

One of the main priorities of the employment policy in Bulgaria is the successful realization and inclusion of young people in the labor market. Within the framework of the employment policy of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, a number of incentive measures are implemented under the Employment Promotion Act to facilitate the transitions of young people from education/training to employment and from unemployment to employment. In some of the measures, young people are the main target group, and in others they are part of the priority groups for inclusion. 

Actions to promote entrepreneurship among unemployed persons, including young people, in order to provide employment, but also to realize personal innovative potential, are implemented by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy. It implements measures to encourage micro-enterprise employers to open jobs by subsidizing the first 5 open jobs. The measure provides support for the smallest economic entities, most of them being new entrepreneurs.

Employers are encouraged to hire young people through the following measures (as set out int the Employment Promotion Act):

• Encouraging employers to hire unemployed persons up to the age of 29 by providing funds for remuneration, social and health insurance;
• Encouraging employers to hire unemployed persons up to the age of 29 with permanent disabilities, including military disabled, as well as young people from specialized institutions or using social services in community of residential type, who have completed their education by providing funds for remuneration, social and health insurance;
• Encouraging employers to hire part-time unemployed young people up to the age of 29 with 12-months continuous registration in the Employment Office by providing funds for remuneration, social and health insurance.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy administers and implements the following programs to integrate unemployed persons from vulnerable groups in the labor market, including young people: 

• Activation of inactive persons program (Национална програма „Активиране на неактивни лица“). The main objective of this program is to activate and include inactive, including discouraged persons and young people by 29 years of age, in the labor market.
• Program for training and employment of refugees (Програма за заетост и обучение на бежанци). The main objective of the program is to integrate refugees or foreigners with humanitarian status in the labor market by including them in Bulgarian language and/or professional qualification trainings and ensuring subsidized employment.
• Forward Looking project (проект „Устремени напред“). The main objective of the project is to overcome the mismatch between supply and demand of workforce with view of supporting the process of facing the new challenges on the labor market. The project ensures sustainable jobs in the real economy and improvement of the quality of workforce by providing unemployed and inactive persons from the most vulnerable groups on the labor market with opportunities to acquire new skills and knowledge. Young people by the age of 29 are among the target groups of the project.
• Ensuring Quality Work project (проект „Осигуряване на качествен труд“). The main objective of the project is to ensure optimum provision of work for the economy at national and regional level in terms of quantity and quality through the realization of activities for promotion of economic activity of active population. Unemployed young people by the age of 29 are among the target groups of the project.   
• Prosperity project (проект „Просперитет“). The main objective of the project is to adapt the knowledge and skills of unemployed persons to the needs of employers from target regions in order to promote their sustainable inclusion in employment and to overcome their isolation from the labor market. Unemployed young people by the age of 29 are among the target groups of the project.
• Development Opportunity project (проект „Възможност за развитие“). The main objective of the project is to provide lifelong learning opportunities and improved knowledge and skills of unemployed persons for increasing their employability for inclusion on the labor market as employees or self-employed persons. Unemployed young people by the age of 29 are among the target groups of the project. 

Flexicurity measures focusing on young people 

There are no top-level measures exclusively targeting young people within the flexicurity framework.

Reconciliation of private and working life for young people.

There are no specific measures on reconciliation of private and working life for young people.

Reduced working hour arrangements apply to workers and employees under the age of 18 years. They are permitted to work a maximum of 7 hours per day (instead of 8 hours) within a 35-hour (instead of 40-hour), 5-day workweek and are entitled to at least 26 days of paid annual leave.

Recent legislative changes aim to improve work-life balance, particularly for remote workers. The "right to disconnect" provision allows remote employees to manage their working hours within agreed limits, ensuring they are not obligated to respond to employer communications outside these times. This measure seeks to enhance flexibility and reduce stress among remote workers.

Funding of schemes/initiatives

The youth employment measures and initiatives described in subsection Youth employment measures are funded from the state budget. 

Quality assurance

The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy performs inspections on the spot with regard to the implementation of the contractual activities in order to verify that:

• funded products and services are actually delivered (for example, subsidized employment, trainings, social services, consultations, etc.) and correspond to the projects approved for funding, the rules of the operation and the applicable legislation;
• representatives of the target groups have actually participated and the result from the interventions is available;
• the conditions for ensuring sustainability of each individual project are met.