Bulgaria
Strategies for youth employment
- Strategies for youth employment
- Yes
Youth employment strategy planned in the next 2 years
- Discussions within the government
- Yes
- Consultations with national-level stakeholders (e.g. employers’ and workers’ associations, youth councils, etc.)
- Yes
- A draft strategy already exists
- Yes
- Other (please specify)
- Yes
Countries with national action plans for youth employment
- Monitoring framework (timeline and activity/outcome indicators, e.g. youth labour market indicators)
- Yes
- Funding (indicative budget to implement the plan)
- Yes
- Institutional responsibilities (e.g. ministries/agencies in charge of specific planned activities )
- Yes
- Other, specify
- Yes
Public funding for the national youth employment strategy
- Public funding for the national youth employment strategy
- Yes
Additional information:
The National Employment Action Plan outlines the detailed allocation of state budget funds for active labour market policies, including programs, projects, and measures that support employment and adult learning. It also incorporates operations financed by the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), specifying both the total and indicative budgets for the respective year.Youth in the national development / employment strategy
- Youth in the national development / employment strategy
- Yes
Additional information:
The National Employment Policy is established by the Council of Ministers. In July 2021, through Decision No. 515, the Council approved the Employment Strategy of the Republic of Bulgaria—a key strategic document that defines national employment policy, including specific measures targeting young people up to 29 years of age, who are identified as a priority group within labour market policy.Countries with national goals for youth employment
- Countries with national goals for youth employment
- Yes
Additional information:
The Employment Strategy 2021–2030 outlines tasks aimed at increasing labour supply by activating inactive and disadvantaged groups in the labour market, such as youth, the long-term unemployed, persons with disabilities, individuals over the age of 55, and early school leavers. These tasks also include targeted actions to engage young people from the NEET group (Not in Employment, Education or Training), as well as measures to support youth employment, including internships and apprenticeships. Progress in implementing these tasks will be monitored through specific indicators, including the youth unemployment rate (ages 15–29) and the relative share of NEETs within the same age group. Each year, the National Employment Action Plan identifies young people as a key target group in the labour market. Measures to support their employment are implemented within the broader context of promoting the inclusion of disadvantaged groupsCountries with quantitative targets for youth employment
- Countries with quantitative targets for youth employment
- Yes
Additional information:
The Employment Strategy of the Republic of Bulgaria 2021–2030 sets a clear quantitative target within the framework of youth employment policy: to reduce the NEET rate (the share of young people aged 15–29 who are unemployed and not participating in education or training) from 18.1% in 2020 to 15% by 2030.Policy areas in national youth employment strategies
- Macroeconomic and Sectoral policies
- No
- Enterprise Development
- Yes
- Education, Training and skills development
- Yes
- Labour Demand
- Yes
- Labour Law and Legislation
- Yes
- Labour Market Policies
- Yes
- Other (please specify)
- No
Social partners' inclusion in the youth employment strategy
- Workers
- Implementation of youth employment strategies/programmes (e.g. social partners as official implementers of the strategy or programme)
- Partially involved (only for some elements of the strategy)
- Assessment of youth employability (alignment of youth qualifications and skills to labour market needs)
- Fully involved
- Monitoring and evaluation of youth employment interventions (e.g. active labour market programmes)
- Informed
- Awareness raising, marketing and promotion of youth employment (e.g. campaign to promote youth employment)
- Partially involved (only for some elements of the strategy)
- Formulation of youth employment strategies (e.g. national action plan for youth)
- Fully involved
- Development of youth employment programmes (e.g. sectoral programme with a clear target to employ X number of youth)
- Fully involved
- Employers
- Implementation of youth employment strategies/programmes (e.g. social partners as official implementers of the strategy or programme)
- Partially involved (only for some elements of the strategy)
- Assessment of youth employability (alignment of youth qualifications and skills to labour market needs)
- Fully involved
- Monitoring and evaluation of youth employment interventions (e.g. active labour market programmes)
- Informed
- Awareness raising, marketing and promotion of youth employment (e.g. campaign to promote youth employment)
- Partially involved (only for some elements of the strategy)
- Formulation of youth employment strategies (e.g. national action plan for youth)
- Fully involved
- Development of youth employment programmes (e.g. sectoral programme with a clear target to employ X number of youth)
- Fully involved
Youth-led organizatios' inclusion in the national strategy
- Fully involved
- No
- Partially involved (only for some elements of the strategy)
- Yes
- Consulted
- No
- Informed
- No
- Not involved
- No
Countries with national partnerships for youth employment
- Countries with national partnerships for youth employment
- Yes
Additional information:
2024 and 2025: In 2023, a National Framework Agreement was signed for the establishment of joint actions for the implementation of the Youth Guarantee, and the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy , the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria, the nationally representative employers' and employees' organizations, as well as nationally representative youth organizations have undertaken commitments in the process of Integration in the labor market, training/education and activation . The institutions and organisations under the Agreement, including the nationally representative youth organisations, have identified their responsible experts with whom to communicate the implementation of the commitments. ___________ At the national level, a National Framework Agreement for the implementation of the national plan for the implementation of the European Youth Guarantee 2014-2020 was in force until the end of 2020. A new National Framework Agreement is currently being prepared, which will continue the unification between state institutions, nationally representative organizations of employers, workers and youth, and the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria, to implement the Council Recommendation of 30 October 2020 on "A Bridge to Jobs - Reinforcing the Youth Guarantee". At the local level, 107 local agreements have been concluded for cooperation between labor offices, municipalities, schools, employers, trade unions, NGOs, to support youth employment, to promote training and employment opportunities, to provide information on workers' rights and others.Inclusiveness of vulnerable groups in national strategies
- Women
- No
- Migrant Workers
- No
- NEETs
- Yes
- People with disabilities
- No
- Low skilled workers
- No
- Rural workers
- No
- Other (please specify)
- Yes
Youth employment strategies and international cooperation
- Youth employment strategies and international cooperation
- Yes
Additional information:
2025: In 2023, the implementation of a joint project between the Employment Agency, the OECD and the European Commission began. The aim of the project is to support the Employment Agency in improving the processes related to the digital and green transitions and to support the adaptation to the changing labour demand in the context of labour market challenges related to the ageing population, labour shortages in some sectors and the need for inclusive employment opportunities, especially for disadvantaged groups. The project will also support the Agency in the processes of improving technological and administrative capacity. 2024: In the period 2020 - 2022, the project "Reform of existing measures and design of new ones for activation of inactive persons and their inclusion in the labour market in Bulgaria" was implemented in partnership between the Employment Agency, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the European Commission. As part of the project, the OECD provided a report with detailed analysis of the inactive population in the country as well as the reasons for inactivity. The report provides an overview of the inactive population in Bulgaria and identifies groups of people who would benefit from the measures and services provided by the Bulgarian Employment Agency. In addition, the report assesses Bulgarian labour market policies for reaching inactive people, including young NEETs, and measures to integrate them into the labour market, as well as recommendations for improvement. _____ In recent years, the promotion of employment among young people is carried out through information campaigns conducted by the Employment Agency - employer days, job fairs, etc., which are funded within the activities of the Agency. An extensive information campaign to promote employment opportunities in the context of the Youth Guarantee was conducted in 2016-2017 with funding from the EaSI program of the European Commission. In addition, with funds from the ESF and the Youth Employment Initiative, an information and motivation campaign „Pull yourself together“ was conducted to promote active behavior in the labor market (https://esf.bg/spri-da-ciklish/ ).