For September, you worked according to European regulations in our country there are 4019, of them 1792 are from the Pirin region, they took an average of BGN 1596.
A new unemployment benefit fraud scheme has been detected in Bulgaria. It is known as “French unemployment”. Because of it, the most affluent unemployed people live next to Blagoevgrad, according to the data of the NOI.
For September, the average monetary compensation for unemployment in our country is BGN 659.04, and for Blagoevgradska – BGN 936.71. The reason is that half of the unemployed in Pirinsko
they receive the benefit ceiling of about BGN 1,800 per month
These are people who have returned from abroad, mainly from France, who submit documents for their last salary, which is around the minimum – 1,700 to 2,000 euros, but provides them with maximum compensation here.
In the Blagoevgrad region, they discovered a long time ago how to get very high benefits from the labor market in our country with a little work abroad.
Hundreds of residents, mainly from the municipalities of Gotse Delchev, Satovcha, Garmen, Razlog, Belitsa, Yakoruda and Petrich go to work seasonally in EU countries, after a month they return with a document for a remuneration of 1700-2000 euros each and register at the labor offices as unemployed according to European regulations.
Still others found a way to get documents for a month’s work, and it was a few days.
Because of the high salary they received abroad, even for a short time, here they reach the ceiling of BGN 85.71 compensation per day. It is calculated as 60% of the average daily wage, taking into account the income of the person at his last job.
Pilgrims flock to France to pick apples and grapes. They work by the month or several days, earning typically 11.50 euros an hour until the 35th hour of the week, after which the rate rises to 14.40 euros, job postings show.
It is noteworthy that since the beginning of the year, on average, there are between 4,000 and 5,000 unemployed people who have returned from abroad in Bulgaria, and almost half of them are in the Blagoevgrad region.
For September, the number of unemployed under European regulations is 4,019, of which 1,792 are in Pirin and they received an average of BGN 1,596 compensation.
Next in the ranking, but with far fewer unemployed migrants, is the Kardzhali region with 251 people, and the third is the Targovishte region with 234.
For August, the number of unemployed persons according to European regulations for the country was 4,380, and for Blagoevgrad they were 2,003, with an average compensation received of BGN 1,932.48.
In July, 4,818 returnees from abroad were registered in the country, of which 2,173 were in Blagoevgrad region and received an average monetary compensation of BGN 1,764.76.
Statistics show that by 50% more women
worked abroad and returned home, from the men
According to a report by the National Institute of Social Sciences, this trend has been on the rise since 2017. At that time, there were 3,033 unemployed people according to European regulations in the country, of which 476 were in the Blagoevgrad region.
And while in other places in our country there has been no serious increase in the number of such people from then until now, in the district the figure reaches a maximum of 2192 for the month of May 2023, which is half of all in the country.
Social networks are full of ads looking for workers abroad.
“Job in France for 2-3 weeks! Pay
11.52 per hour! Documents are also issued for the stock exchange!”,
“Angers region – apples. Works at 11.52 euros (gross). Documents for the exchange,” are some of the ads.
In social networks, people who have gone through the cycle Bulgaria – France – Bulgaria several times, share their experience:
“If you are in France for 2 weeks to work somewhere, then you come with documents and get the exchange”, “You go to France for a week or a month and take the maximum”, “There are also those who go for 4 days and take the maximum amount of remuneration, things can change, but until now it was like this”, “I understood that after the end of the year you will need to work for a minimum of 6 months, and not as it is now – a few weeks, to enter the employment office as unemployed and receive about BGN 1,800 per month. Is this true?”,
“That’s why there is this influx for a week of work and a year with 1,800 BGN per month. This is the situation – some work like oxen, and others 30 days and in the end they took more than the others”.
This is part of the comments on social networks.
From the region of Gotse Delchev
every week buses with workers leave for France,
which recover after 3-4 days. Some of the migrants stay for a longer time, but there are also those who return literally after days.
So-called French unemployment, which has become fashionable in recent years, used to be “English unemployment” while Britain was in the EU, say Pirin employers who are finding it increasingly difficult to find labour.
“It’s not difficult, but almost impossible to find workers. They don’t want to work for 1,000 BGN, after they stay at home and receive 1,800 net. Many people in Gotsedelchevsko have gone through this cycle from France to our labor market at least twice and vice versa, after the deadline for receiving compensation has expired.
There are even those who do not reach France at all, but they are issued documents according to some fraudulent scheme. This has been going on for years,” commented Irena Velkovska, owner of a sewing factory in the village of Kornitsa.
He says that those who actually go to work abroad for a short time are entitled to receive the maximum unemployment benefits here, because that is the European legislation and the directives that we have signed without realizing that it is unfair and a drain on social funds.
“For years we have been raising the alarm that something must change, because this is how social systems are drained
Where is the justice when people here work for years, pay insurance and when they get to the labor office, they get much less benefits than those who were abroad for a month.
Thus, people are not equal in the labor market. The state loses not only from the payment of high benefits, but also from lost benefits, because these people here do not work, do not pay income tax, do not pay insurance,” adds Velkovska.
In Gotsedelchevsko, the sewing workshops where women worked years ago are now half-empty.
“A workshop for 100-200 workers now has about 30 and 1/3 of them are in the gray sector,” says Velkovska.
When they were looking for workers, the unemployed came who received maximum benefits and
were willing to work, but illegally, without contracts,
in order not to terminate their registration in the labor offices and lose the high secure income and receive income from two places.
Thus, some employers, pressed by the lack of workers, were forced to go to the gray sector and hire such people, paying them wages in an envelope.
Difficulties in finding staff are also encountered in the tourism sector.
“From conversations with local hoteliers and merchants, I understand that they have a hard time finding workers for the winter season. When they try to hire staff, people massively refuse to work on a labor contract because they are listed on the stock exchange and receive high compensation.
They want, if possible, to work without any documents, illegally, in order to receive money from two places”, commented the deputy mayor of Razlog, Hristo Zaikov.
The NOI in Smolyan, where they caught fraud 2 years ago, now want to check whether a local group actually traveled to France
“You can ask for compensation, even if you have worked for a week or two in an EU country on an employment contract and you have been made redundant. The right is given by Regulation 883/2004, which regulates the coordination between the various insurance systems of the member states.
These are people who worked in another country, but returning to Bulgaria after termination of the employment and insurance relationship, they request payment from the Bulgarian insurance company of the unemployment compensation due.” 2 years ago, people who had to return money after a court decision , went to a protest on the Nedelino – Kardzhali road.
This was explained to “24 Chasa” by the director of the NOI in Smolyan, Valentin Gadjev. They have experience with similar “excursions” there
“A few days ago I asked the police to check 14 people if they had even been to France,” he announced.
The most common claimants for benefits are migrants from the municipalities of Dospat, Borino and Devin. Due to the strict control in the Smolensk branch of the National Institute of Social Sciences, they prefer to register at the labor offices in neighboring areas such as Pazardzhik, Kardjali and Plovdiv.
The Smolensk branch of the insurance institute detected a large-scale fraud of the supposedly unemployed in Spain. A group of over 50 people from Nedelino received compensation in the total amount of BGN 237,000. These are migrant workers who have employment contracts for agricultural work in the town of Aranda de Duero.
One of the employers, who is Bulgarian, sent people from Spain to work on his property in the Plovdiv village of Vojvodinovo. VALENTIN GADZHEV
Another part of his workers had not been to Spain at all, which was established by a police check at the border crossing. However, all of them received benefits of the order of BGN 70-80 per working day.
The employer with property in Vojvodinovo did not declare the whereabouts of his workers to the labor office and thus avoided a possible inspection by the relevant labor office.
Subsequent granting of these aids. However, then – and suspension by order of the head of unemployment insurance in the division of the National Insurance Institute. The started investigation found that they were abroad for only 3 days or never left Bulgaria at all.
NOI in Smolyan filed cases in the Administrative Court and most of them were won. It is ordered that the amounts illegally taken be reimbursed to the insurance institute.
In parallel, an inspection is carried out by the labor and social security inspectorate of Burgos, Castilla y León region in Spain, which is about to cancel the insurance periods of the entire group.
NOI: As long as the EU regulation is complied with, we are obliged to pay
We are aware of the problem, but we cannot but comply with EU regulation 883. And the people who actually went to work receive the corresponding unemployment benefits.
This was commented by the National Social Security Institute to “24 Chasa”. There is no way for NOI to violate the European regulation, the institution emphasized.
This “French” scheme was already once given to the prosecution by AIKB, but no violations were found.
A problem in the European regulation is that compensation is calculated from the last remuneration.
While with the Bulgarian benefits, the income is averaged over the last 2 years and then 60% of it is granted.
However, not every unemployed person under the European regulation receives the maximum benefit, and for a period of a whole year. In order to receive money from the NISI as an unemployed person for 12 months, he must have worked and provided without interruption for 15 years.
2023-12-12 21:00:00
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