site.btaBulgaria's Salary Growth Higher than the EU Average in 2009-2016

Bulgaria's Salary Growth Higher than the EU Average in 2009-2016

Sofia, March 14 (BTA) - Bulgaria, Poland and Germany are the only EU countries, where the average growth of salary growth in the 2009-2016 period was higher compared to 2001-2008, according to a survey of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) quoted by the press centre of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB).

Salaries in Bulgaria have been growing in real terms, which should be attributed to three main factors: structural changes in employment at the beginning of the crisis, a strengthened competitive pressure of the European labour market in the recent years and lasting deflation. However, this growth is with very low rates and starts from a very low basis, CITUB notes.

In 2016, the average salary in Bulgaria was 523 euro, which compares to 3,333 euro in Finland, for example. Even in the neighbouring country the salaries are higher: by 21.9 per cent in Romania, by 16.6 per cent in Macedonia and by 35 per cent in Serbia. CITUB leader Plamen Dimitrov commented that an accelerated growth of incomes is needed to melt the difference.