site.btaEC: Bulgaria Is Among Countrieswith Highest Income Inequality

Brussels, October 13 (BTA correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - Bulgaria ranks among the countries with the highest income inequality coupled with the inability of the social system to address the issue. This is contained among the findings of an yearly report by the European Commission on Labour Market and Wage Developments in Europe presented on Friday. Meanwhile, the report notes that depending on the tools for assessment, results may vary significantly because in Bulgaria the change in policies had contributed to the largest extent to overcoming income inequality between 2008 and 2014.

In 2016, the growth of wages in Bulgaria outstripped the growth of labour productivity. The country reported an increase over 5 per cent of the hourly wages. Unlike the majority of EU countries there is no tangible difference between the wages of temporary and permanent workers. Bulgaria is among the countries with the largest number of involuntary temporary workers.

Unlike the majority of EU countries, Bulgaria reports a decrease in the wages of workers in the finance and business services sector.

Bulgaria has reported a significant increase in the number of workers in the services sector.