Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association (BICA) presented a Methodology for Prevention of Undeclared Employment during a meeting of the Public Council for Restriction and Prevention of the Informal Economy and Undeclared Employment, attended by representatives of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, NRA, NSSI, NSI and others. The methodology aims to acquaint employers and other stakeholders with the potential opportunities for the implementation of strategies and specific tools for prevention. The two types of strategies described in it have already been tested and verified in 60 companies and based on their actual implementation have been refined so that they are easy to implement in practice. The methodology provides a wide range of strategies and tools for industry organizations, as well as those applicable at the enterprise level – for example, related to ways to adapt basic internal acts, human resources management processes, the social dialogue system and social, as well as to raise the awareness of employers and workers.

The Chairman of the Public Council and Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policy, Mr. Lazar Lazarov, pointed out that “undeclared work is a challenge that affects the interests of all participants in the labor market. All its manifestations harm the workers, the enterprises and the whole society. It should be noted the steady downward trend in the percentage of undeclared work and the gray economy in Bulgaria over the past 10 years, which is due to both consistent measures taken by the state and the active participation of social partners in various initiatives aimed at overcoming this problem. Therefore, the work of the Public Council is key to continuing the joint efforts to deal with undeclared work. An important lesson from the last two years is that the full and timely declaration of labor and income makes it possible to support enterprises and workers in the event of unpredictable events. That is why it is important for each participant in the labor market to assess the security provided by the declared work and the guarantees provided by the participation in the insurance system in the country.

 “In the last twenty years, BICA has been one of the main drivers in the search for appropriate measures to limit gray practices. This is also the goal of project BG05M9OP001-1.051-0001 “Improving access to employment and the quality of jobs by limiting and preventing undeclared employment”. Since its launch, we have developed a National Map of Undeclared Employment and discussed 51 prevention measures with more than 40 employers. Based on them, we have prepared a Methodology for Prevention, which will be tested in 60 Bulgarian companies, as well as a document with pilot models, mechanisms and networks for positive impacts on the labor market, “said Dr. Milena Angelova, who is Secretary General of BICA and project manager.

The Public Council also got acquainted with the developed special information system for calculating the Composite Index “Economy of Light” and the Sub-Index “Employment of Light”, which is an electronic platform to support the work of the National Center “Economy of Light” – www.ikonomikanasvetlo. bg.

The information system is developed in three modules, and its purpose is to be as useful as possible to employers, employees and stakeholders by providing them with information, special courses for distance learning and counseling on the harms of undeclared work and measures to limit and prevent it.

The first provides information on the annual results of the measurement of the Composite Index “Economy of Light”. The second allows for e-consultations on thematic areas, as well as for submitting signals. And the last module is related to specially developed e-learning programs.

According to Dr. Angelova, the project team is currently working on the calculation of the updated Composite Index “Economics of Light” and upgrading it with the Sub-Index “Employment of Light”. This year, 600 employers and nearly 1,300 employees took part in the survey, on the basis of which the value of the index is calculated. Dr. Milena Angelova added that BICA will officially announce the size of the two indices in the second half of this year.

In the implementation of the project activities BICA also cooperates with its associated partners in the person of GIT, EA, MLSP, BIA, BCCI and CEIBG, as well as the members of the Public Council at the National Center represented by the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, NRA, NSSI, NSI and a number of other institutions and media.