A record number of people found employment in June, announced Bulgarian Minister of Labour and Social Policy Denitsa Sacheva. The number of newly employed people rose to 37 000 over the course of last month. The Government aims at maintaining unemployment rates of between 6% and 7% until the end of the year. The target appears achievable based on the statistics from the past two months, said Mrs. Sacheva.
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Unemployment remains under control mainly due to the governmental measures for job protection, she said. Among the mentioned are the “60/40” program of the cabinet and the personal financial grants of 290 leva in the field of transportation and tourism. The “Employment for you” initiative is also in full motion, encouraging the hiring of unemployed people.
So far “60/40” has saved 165,000 jobs at the expense of 160 million leva, said Mrs. Sacheva. The program will remain in place by the end of September when it will be replaced by a new financial measure.
The Social Minister added “Operational program human resources” has been in development for a couple of months now and it will address unemployment issues among the youth. A budget of about 500 million will be dedicated to further professional qualifications in fields like IT, said Mrs. Sacheva.
She further said that Bulgaria is to receive 29 billion euros over the next years with the first 650 million euros to be secured in 2021. The funds will be made available to the public through an application process. She stressed grants and loans maintain a healthy ratio of 84/16.
In regard to the national anti-government protests, she said there were no specific demands of the public except for calls for resignations, adding the cabinet was expecting to hear actual arguments from the protesters who continue to gather in the square.
Her comments were made amidst thousands of protesters demanding the resignation of Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev and calling for an emergency summit of the Great National Assembly.
