The Labor Force Of Bulgaria

Describes reporting practices in use about 1956 and before the administrative reorganization of mid-1957.

This book studies the Bulgarian labor market with a view to understanding the interactions between the performance of the Bulgarian economy and the functioning of its labor market. It evaluates the position of Bulgaria vis-a-vis compliance with the acquis commentaire, and provides a set of key policy recommendations that may enhance the job creation potential in years to come.

In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country.

Rutkowski seeks to determine the main factors behind poor labor market outcomes in Bulgaria. Unemployment in Bulgaria is high and of long duration. The accumulation of the unemployment stock has been caused by relatively high inflows into unemployment coupled with limited outflows. These features of the Bulgarian labor market are typical of other transition economies in Central Europe and exploring their sources is of broad interest. Rutkowski focuses on determinants of and constraints to job creation. He uses data on job creation and job destruction from a survey of employment in all registered firms. He finds that the source of large inflows into unemployment is intensive enterprise restructuring associated with a high pace of job reallocation. However, job creation falls short of job destruction. Three main factors account for the limited job creation and hiring, and thus for low outflows from unemployment: - The unfriendly business environment, reflected by a low rate of new firm formation, and a relatively small SME (small and medium enterprise) sector. - Labor market rigidities, including excessive hiring and firing costs. - Skill and spatial mismatches brought about by enterprise restructuring, as well as low skills and marginalization of the long-term unemployed who cannot successfully compete for new jobs. The author recommends a three pronged strategy to improve labor market performance: (1) removing bureaucratic constraints to entry and expansion of firms; (2) enhancing labor market flexibility through lowering hiring and firing costs; and (3) improving the educational system so as to equip workers with broad and portable skills. This paper - a product of the Human Development Sector Unit, Europe and Central Asia Region - is part of a larger effort in the region to examine labor market performance and its contribution to economic growth and poverty reduction.

The paper examines labor market developments in the four hard-peg European Union (EU) accession candidates during transition, with a view toward understanding the persistent high unemployment experienced in each country. Despite the significant levels of unemployment in all four countries, labor market developments suggest that the strongest and earliest reformers have had the best labor market performance as well. It is crucial that all four countries continue their policies aimed at encouraging investment and job creation. Accession to the EU will present challenges to labor markets.