For Bulgaria it became tradition to win all the negative ratings of Eurostat. From the study carried out by the European statistics service provider, it appears that in 2011 Sofia was leading the race for lowest levels of minimum wage. The lowest salary in the country is estimated at EUR138 and this figure comes after an increase in the minimum national wage from BGN240 to BGN270. The country will remain the poorest in the EU even after May 2012, when comes into force yet another cosmetic increase of BGN20. For comparison, in Romania the minimum income is EUR162. The two leaders are followed by Lithuania where minimum possible salary is EUR232. Well above our minimum wages were those of the near-bankrupt Greece – EUR887. The Greeks, whose finances collapsed and we are also talking part in fixing them, however, flooded the streets to protest against the demand of the EU their minimum wage be reduced to EUR600.
The best minimum income are being received in Luxembourg, where the sum each month is EUR1,801. In spite of the economic catharsis experienced in Ireland, the working Irish still get no less than EUR1,462 and a third in this list is the Netherlands with EUR1,447.
As a logical consequence of this result comes the conclusion of the World Bank and the Open Society Institute, according to which the global economic crisis of 2009-2010 rocked the Bulgarian households mainly through the labour market. Unemployment has increased, and working time has been reduced, which forced families to tighten their belts and reduce their utility costs. Household expenditure on food has decreased , and the same is true for the spending on health prevention, social care and education. Bulgarians have tried to compensate for reduced income by working more, but only highly educated were successful, the study found. The crisis has not reported a change in the country’s profile of poverty and the greatest risk is for those households where the head of the family is unemployed, uneducated, as well as single mothers and large families. The poorest Bulgarians, or those with income below BGN255 have increased and have now reached 23 percent and the rise has taken place at the expense of the urban population.
