March 30 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's job retention scheme known as the '60-40 measure', which was introduced in April 2020 to soften the impact of the coronavirus crisis on employment, will remain in force until June 30, the labour ministry said.
The government will maintain the current conditions for job retention support until the scheme is abolished, the labour ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
In April 2020, the European Commission approved Bulgaria's 1.5 billion ($833.6 million/766.9 million) levs job retention scheme for preserving employment in the sectors most affected by containment measures imposed over the coronavirus outbreak, such as retail, tourism and passenger transport. Under the scheme, the government is financing 60% of the wage costs, including the social security contributions by employers, of undertakings that would otherwise lay off staff due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Bulgaria’s unemployment rate decreased by 0.8 percentage points year-on-year to 5.3% in 2021, the statistical office said earlier this month.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)