Labour Market Flexibility (Гъвкавост на пазара на труда в България) - in Bulgarian

The book presents the results of the research project "Labour Market Flexibility in Bulgaria", developed within the research program of the Institute for Economic Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The analysis on the external flexibility of the labour market proves its moderate performance. The existence of low internal mobility is proved on the basis of deficits in the status mobility of the labor force, both in the good years of economic growth and during the problematic periods. Probabilities of employment mobility are low and very low, when using atypical forms of employment. Two sets of institutional prerequisites for labour market flexibility are presented: wages and wage negotiations and active labour market policies. The need for strategic changes in bargaining towards increasing the cost of labour in Bulgaria was advocated in favour employment flexibility. Active policies need a substantial renewal and restructuring of priorities in order to improve the quality of workforce and its flexibility according to the strategic priorities of the Green Deal and the digital transition. The importance of public spending in supporting labour market flexibility in the three Baltic EU Member States (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) after its inclusion in the Eurozone is justified in detail. Wages in these countries have been used as the main correcting variable for “internal devaluation” and for restoring the competitiveness of the national and of the European economy. For Bulgaria, a challenge remains to modernize the policy of public and private spending on flexibility and security in the labour market due to the presence of risks of asymmetric shocks and crises.