THE MINIMUM WAGE FORMULA IS A THREAT TO THE STABILITY OF THE ECONOMY

Despite the clear texts of the Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages and Convention 131 of the ILO, despite the positions presented and the discussions in which employers' organizations actively participated, despite the government's position, the National Assembly adopted a decision that threatens the stability of the Bulgarian economy.

The upcoming elections cannot and should not be a justification for adopting populist decisions, which are justified solely by the desire to increase electoral support, without taking into account the impact on the economy and on the state budget.

Employers' organizations have never been against the tendency to increase the wages of workers and employees in Bulgaria. But this should be done with the tools of the market economy, and not with the administrative measures inherent in the planned-command economy. The growth of wages should go along with the increase in the productivity of the economy, and not follow from the decisions of politicians in an election campaign. You get more because you produced more, not because Parliament voted on such a decision.

Criticisms that can be directed at the adopted decision to change the Labor Code, which fixes a new formula for determining the minimum wage, are many and complex:

• the norms of international acts such as Convention 131 of the ILO, which stipulates that the minimum wage be negotiated within the tripartite dialogue and based on a set of criteria, are violated;
• the norms of the Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages, which indicates the ratio between the minimum wage and the average salary on a net-net, gross-gross level, are violated, at the same time only as a reference indicator, without excluding social dialogue;
• social dialogue is replaced by automatism, which has no way of accounting for the economic cycle;
• the decision was taken without an assessment of the impact on the economy and the budget and despite the government's forecasts for an increase in the deficit;
• the decision will reflect on the levels of all labor wages and these costs will be included in the prices of goods and services produced, which will further increase inflation;
• the decision limits the interest in increasing the professional qualification;
• in most economic activities, an average wage will end up equal to the national minimum wage, penalizing the hardworking and skilled and rewarding the lazy or unskilled;
• will push companies to the gray sector.

The decision voted in the National Assembly will prove to be a burden for the ambitions of most parliamentary groups that claim to rule the country. Harmful consequences for the economy will be an obstacle to the possibility of our country becoming a member of the Eurozone, the Schengen area and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Practice has shown that populist solutions do not have a long life. The employer organizations in Bulgaria will continue to defend the position of limiting the inadequate intervention of the state in economic activity.