17,642 people will no longer receive social assistance payments in Bulgaria

After January the 1st, 2008 the number of people dropping out of the social assistance system is expected to decrease. According to data of the Labour Offices, 17,642 people will no longer receive social assistance payments. Of them, about 70 per cent are without or with very low education.

A total of 5,632 people who were expected to drop out of the system have already found jobs through the Employment Agency, Labour and Social Affairs Minister Emilia Maslarova said, speaking at a news conference on the problems of employment and migration policy.

Maslarova described as alarming the fact that 1,222 people receiving social assistance, have refused to look for jobs.

Deputy Labour and Social Policy Minister Dimiter Dimitrov noted the financial opportunities for employment promotion programmes contained in the Human Resources Development operational programme.

The Ministry commissioned an update of an empirical study into emigration attitudes among Bulgarians. The study was conducted in October among 4,000 respondents. The poll established that Bulgaria’s migration-prone person is young, up to 25 years of age. People in the 30-40 years age bracket are more likely to think twice before deciding on the possibility to emigrate. For such people the more important consideration is what they work as rather than the size of their salary.

A positive trend is that more people with investment goals, personal capital and business contacts return to Bulgaria.

The poll also established that the remuneration of high skilled employees in hi-tech, biology, and engineering in this country is insufficient.

BTA