site.btaEU-Backed Operational Programme Keeps Annual Unemployment Down by 2%

EU-Backed Operational Programme Keeps Annual Unemployment Down by 2%

Sofia, March 26 (BTA) - Speaking to journalists on Wednesday,
Deputy Labour Minister Zornitsa Roussinova said that the
Operational Programme for Human Resources Development keeps
annual unemployment rates down by 2 per cent.

Labour Minister Ivailo Kalfin and his deputy Roussinova reported
to the parliamentary social affairs committee on the
programme's implementation between 2007 and 2013 and measures
planned between 2014 and 2020.

Kalfin said that until 2013 over 43,000 unemployed peopled found
work, and 64,947 were enrolled in training to improve their
qualifications under the programme.

Between 2007 and 2013, 2.46 billion leva were contracted and
2.06 billion leva were paid out, or 87 per cent. According to
Kalfin, this rate exceeds the EU-average.

Raising the issue of the programme's efficiency, MP Dimiter
Bayraktarov of the Patriotic Front said that a single work place
cost 3,300 leva monthly according to simple math.

For his part, committee chair Hassan Ademov said that despite
public expectations for new jobs under the programme, people
should be aware that the goal of the programme is to teach
skills for joining the workforce instead of sustaining jobs.

Minister Kalfin said that applications under all schemes have to
be filed electronically in 2015. Some 115 million leva will go
towards youth training and employment and another 50 million
leva towards unemployed people in pre-retirement.