Companies plan mass layoffs. Nearly 10,000 employees have been affected by layoffs in the past two years. They are again on the agenda because of the withdrawal of large foreign investors from Bulgaria.
From the beginning of the year to October, employers sent 65 notifications of upcoming mass redundancies to the Employment Agency, affecting 4,921 workers. Over 700 people remain unemployed in Sofia as well, among them working in the outsourcing industry and IT companies.
The specialist in the “Human Resources“ Maria Stoeva believes that mass dismissals are still isolated cases and not a mass trend. “Unskilled personnel will begin to drop out of the labor market, especially where there are opportunities for automation. Another factor is the high cost of labor, without, however, an increase in productivity. In such a case, the most natural thing is for companies to go to work in cheaper countries. Unemployment is unhealthily low, 6-7% is normal for an economy. "Employers are still on their knees, the labor market is very tough," she said.
The main expert “Social dialogue“ in BSK Jasmina Sar'ivanova shared that it is not known whether the dismissals are a systematic process. “Mass rather refers to the number of workers in given enterprises. Unemployment in our country continues to be extremely low - below 4%. There is a hunger for all types of staff in all sectors. If companies show such great interest in importing employees from third countries, then the labor market is still looking for personnel, she commented.