Minimum wage up
SOFIA (SeeNews) – Bulgaria’s government yesterday hiked the minimum wage by 6.7 percent to 0.95 lev (0.48 euro) per hour as of January 1 in a move that experts say will raise labor and insurance costs for employers but will not change the average monthly salary in the country. The minimum monthly wage will rise to 160 levs from 150 levs for a five-day-eight-hour working week. Bulgaria made an election-year decision to hike its minimum monthly wage by 25 percent to 150 levs in 2005. The move will likely have a negative effect on low-income residents as healthcare expenses are bound to the minimum salary and will rise. Labor costs will also increase and provoke cuts of low-paid, low-productivity jobs, Dimitar Chobanov, senior economist with the Sofia-based think tank Institute for Market Economics (IME), told SeeNews. The average wage, which is 150 euros, will hardly be affected by the move, he added.
