The gap between the income of the Bulgarians, working in different regions of the country, will deepen even more drastically towards 2018. The difference in wages of the employees with higher education who work in North and South-East Bulgaria and their colleagues from South-West and South-Central Bulgaria, will become bigger and bigger.
Thus, after 4 years, a graduate in the poorer part of the country will receive an average of BGN 416 less per month than an employee with a university degree from South-West and South-Central Bulgaria.
The salaries of workers with a secondary education and a professional bachelor's degree will differ by more than BGN 135 per month. This shows the medium-term forecast of the Ministry of Social Affairs for the labor market until 2018. Only workers with primary education will not have a cut in income after 4 years. The monthly difference will be negligible - BGN 2.50 between the two halves of the country.
The average gross annual salary for primary and lower level of education in North and South-Eastern Bulgaria it is expected to reach BGN 3885.7, and for South-West and Central Bulgaria it will be BGN 5108.2. For workers with primary education in North and South-East Bulgaria, the annual remuneration is expected to reach BGN 5120 ., while in Southwest and Central Bulgaria it will be BGN 5,125.3. People with secondary education and a professional bachelor's degree will be able to expect an annual salary of BGN 12,663 if they work in North and Southeast Bulgaria, and BGN 14,285.5 in Southwest and Central. For graduates, the annual remuneration will reach BGN 26,071 in the poorer regions against BGN 31,064 in the more developed ones.
By 2018, there will be common problems in the labor market for all regions. After 4 years, for example, over 181,000 graduates are expected to work in positions that do not require a university degree at all.
The forecast is for next year, that nearly 144 thousand bachelors, masters and doctors will work in lower qualified positions. The tendency for jobs for people without education to be taken by more highly educated employees will become particularly noticeable after 2016.
At the same time the new jobs in the coming years, they will be extremely limited, and the labor market will demand less and less low-skilled workers and people without education. The business will mainly need specialists with secondary education in the next few years, but graduates will increase the most against the background of the other groups of working Bulgarians.
According to the forecast, jobs in four years will increase by 118 thousand, or 4 percent - to more than 2.9 million positions. More than 70 percent of the new jobs will be for workers with a completed 12th grade.
Every fourth newly created position will be for a graduate. Because of that the labor market a mismatch will form - the demand for workers with a university degree will be weaker than the supply. For Bulgarians with secondary education, it will be the other way around – businesses will be looking for more such employees than there will be on the labor market.
It will be easiest to find a job in Dobrich. Opportunities are also relatively favorable in the regions of Vidin, Ruse, Vratsa, Veliko Tarnovo, Pernik, Kyustendil, Sofia region and Sofia city. These forecasts are made on the basis of deviation from the average registration in the labor offices. For the 40-year-old unemployed, Dobrichko also turns out to be the best region for quickly finding a job. This group earns a living faster than 25-year-olds.
The most favorable for 40-year-olds are again the regions of Eastern Bulgaria - Dobrich, Varna, Burgas. People in Haskovo, Kardzhali, Pazardzhik, Plovdiv, Targovishte and Lovech stay the longest in the labor offices without prospects.