FfW Bulgarian report (English language) - Fit for Work Europe

Increasing work intensity is a very short-sighted approach to stimulating the Bulgarian
economy. Along with skills, training and qualifications, one of the most significant drivers of
labour productivity in the EU is workforce health and well-being. However, continuously high
job demands will result in poor health and growing numbers of chronic health conditions in
the Bulgarian workforce. It is suggested that despite the high intensity of work, Bulgarian
workplaces are characterised by high job insecurity: in 2010 almost 30 per cent of employees
feared losing their jobs in the following six months (European Working Conditions Survey
(EWCS), 2010).
Additionally, due to financial hardship previously inactive people have considered re-entering
the labour market. Bulgaria ranks among the top European countries for employment of older
people: 43.5 per cent of individuals aged 55 to 64 years of age choose to stay in the labour
force, with an average age of exit from the labour market of 64.1 – one of the highest in EU. 4 As
poor health and chronic health conditions become more prevalent with age, the health status of
the elderly may have a significant impact on their performance.
Ill health already presents Bulgarian employers with significant costs: up to 7 per cent of
employees in Bulgaria have more than 15 days of sickness absence in a year (EWCS, 2010).
In addition, at least 22.6 per cent came to work when ill (EWCS, 2010), which suggests that the
productivity of a significant proportion of employees in Bulgaria may be reduced, without the
employers being aware of that.
These figures show that having a significant proportion of the working age population not
performing to their full capacity due to ill-health – even in a favourable economic climate
– can reduce the aggregate level of labour productivity in an economy and damage the
competitiveness and effectiveness of private and public sector employing organisations.
Furthermore, a significant burden of ill-health or chronic disease can also have a number of
damaging social consequences. These arguments inform a number of important implications.
First, the competitiveness of the Bulgarian economy has been – and will be – substantially
driven by the skills, experience and knowledge of its workforce. Indeed Bulgaria has been
making good progress towards becoming a ‘knowledge economy’ as envisaged by the EU’s
2000 Lisbon Strategy (Lisbon European Council, 2000). A 2006 report estimated the number
of knowledge workers in Bulgaria was just 7 per cent less, relative to the European average
(Technopolis, 2006). However, the pitfalls of the health care system may be causing Bulgarian
workers to leave to seek medical help and better employment conditions abroad (Kokalov,
4 See Eurostat http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home/
Introduction
Fit For Work? 11