Atypical employment has become the norm in the Bulgarian economy

Atypical forms of employment are common in a number of sectors of the Bulgarian economy, and in some of them they are so widespread that they have become the norm when hiring workers.

This conclusion was reached by Assoc. Prof. Silvia Dimitrova from the University of Economics in Varna during a hybrid conference of the Association of Industrial Capital in Bulgaria (AICB).

Atypical employment is any change of the usual standard employment, such as part-time work, on-call work, remote work, etc.

Due to job insecurity, this form of employment is also described as precarious, characterized (in most cases) by low pay, limited or no access to social protection, and lack of control over the work process.

However, it is widespread in a number of sectors.

In agriculture, atypical forms of employment are in fact typical for the sector," explained Dr. Dimitrova.

The situation is similar in the water supply and sanitation sector and in tourism, where one-day employment contracts are concluded. In these cases, the worker is hired for only one day and, according to the texts of the Labor Code, is mandatorily insured for some of the social risks, thereby acquiring social security rights, but without terminating their registration with the employment office and, accordingly, their right to receive social assistance.

In the case of one-day contracts, the remuneration is paid personally to the worker against a receipt at the end of the working day and no separate document terminating the employment relationship needs to be issued.

One-day contracts are typical in agriculture, water supply and sanitation, tourism, electronics and ICT, publishing, textiles and clothing," added Dimitrova.

Part-time employment is common in viticulture and wine production, again in ICT, publishing, consulting services, culture, and the water supply and sanitation sector. “Although to a lesser extent, it is also found in the textile and clothing sector,” she explained.

Is the business familiar with atypical employment?

Her presentation makes it clear that there are sectors in the Bulgarian economy where these forms are either very limited or non-existent. These include water and air transport, transport and logistics in general, and publishing.

There are also no such forms of employment in the perfumery and cosmetics sector, except for part-time employment and one-day contracts", Dimitrova added.

Two other such sectors are water supply and sanitation and education, where these opportunities are very limited. Dimitrova therefore concluded that although there are sectors with a high incidence of atypical employment, employers and workers are still unfamiliar with it. “Employers and workers lack knowledge about many of the new forms of employment and their content,” Dimitrova summarized.

This text was translated by DeepL Translator.