Until September 1 is the legal deadline in which Social Affairs Minister Ivaylo Ivanov must prepare the government decree in which the new amount will be recorded.
Meanwhile, the Institute for Market Economy announced changes to the mechanism for determining the minimum wage, arguing that there are large regional and sectoral differences in the ratio between it and the average wage.
According to the provisions of the Labor Code, the minimum wage for the country for the next calendar year is determined by September 1 of the current year. It is 50 percent of the average gross salary for a period of 12 months, which includes the last two quarters of the previous year and the first two quarters of the current year.
All the data needed for the accounts have already been released by the National Statistical Institute.
KNSB specified that since September 1 is a Sunday, it is possible that the new amount of the lowest remuneration will become clear already on August 30, Friday.
An analysis by the Institute for Market Economy states that the implementation of the new mechanism fixes the minimum wage for 2024 at BGN 933, which led to an increase of BGN 153 in one year – the largest increase in the last 25 years.
The accounts of the experts at the Institute also show the amount of BGN 1,077 for next year, or BGN 144 more than the current amount.
The analysis points to lower year-on-year growth of 20% in 2024 and 13% in 2025, reflecting both the slowdown in average wage growth and the easing of upward labor market dynamics, as well as slower overall economic growth.
The Institute emphasizes that the large sectoral and regional differences in the conditions of the labor market require thinking in the direction of introducing differentiation, which would not allow the minimum wage, I quote, with its aggressive growth, to become too great a barrier.
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