Why is Unemployment So High in Bulgaria?
Why is Unemployment So High in Bulgaria?

Author: Jan Rutkowski

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 68

ISBN-13:

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Rutkowski seeks to determine the main factors behind poor labor market outcomes in Bulgaria. Unemployment in Bulgaria is high and of long duration. The accumulation of the unemployment stock has been caused by relatively high inflows into unemployment coupled with limited outflows. These features of the Bulgarian labor market are typical of other transition economies in Central Europe and exploring their sources is of broad interest. Rutkowski focuses on determinants of and constraints to job creation. He uses data on job creation and job destruction from a survey of employment in all registered firms. He finds that the source of large inflows into unemployment is intensive enterprise restructuring associated with a high pace of job reallocation. However, job creation falls short of job destruction. Three main factors account for the limited job creation and hiring, and thus for low outflows from unemployment: - The unfriendly business environment, reflected by a low rate of new firm formation, and a relatively small SME (small and medium enterprise) sector. - Labor market rigidities, including excessive hiring and firing costs. - Skill and spatial mismatches brought about by enterprise restructuring, as well as low skills and marginalization of the long-term unemployed who cannot successfully compete for new jobs. The author recommends a three pronged strategy to improve labor market performance: (1) removing bureaucratic constraints to entry and expansion of firms; (2) enhancing labor market flexibility through lowering hiring and firing costs; and (3) improving the educational system so as to equip workers with broad and portable skills. This paper - a product of the Human Development Sector Unit, Europe and Central Asia Region - is part of a larger effort in the region to examine labor market performance and its contribution to economic growth and poverty reduction.

Explaining Unemployment in Spain
Explaining Unemployment in Spain

Author: Mr.Jeffrey R. Franks

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 1994-09-01

Total Pages: 42

ISBN-13: 1451852576

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Spain has the most serious and persistent unemployment problem in Europe, with an unemployment rate that reached 24.6 percent in early 1994. This paper explores the characteristics of this unemployment problem, its causes, and provides a brief discussion of recent labor market reform measures and their likely Impact. A demographic shift in recent years has produced a large rise in female labor force participation and a decrease in agricultural jobs to which the economy has been unable to adjust. The effects of generous unemployment benefits and the large underground economy may explain 6–12 percentage points of the resulting unemployment, but the remainder must be explained by failures and rigidities in the labor market. The paper presents econometric evidence that unemployment displays hysteresis, and that wages are not responsive to changes in the unemployment rate. This evidence supports the claim that insider-outsider factors and rigidities in the legal structure of the labor market are responsible for much of the high unemployment rate. Recent reforms have improved the functioning of the labor market, but they are unlikely to be sufficient to reduce unemployment to single digit rates without further action.

Institutional Arrangements for Public Debt Management
Institutional Arrangements for Public Debt Management

Author: Elizabeth Currie

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 59

ISBN-13:

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Abstract: This paper analyzes institutional arrangements for public debt management by reviewing the experience of OECD countries during the late 1980s and 1990s. It discusses principal-agent issues arising from the delegation of authority from the Minister of Finance to the debt management office and describes how countries have designed governance structures and control and monitoring mechanisms to deal with these issues. The paper also discusses what lessons emerging market countries and transition countries can draw from the experience of advanced OECD countries. The OECD experience clearly indicates that"regardless of whether the debt management office is located inside or outside the Ministry of Finance"four issues are of vital importance: Giving priority to strategic public policy objectives rather than tactical trading objectives; Strengthening the institutional capacity to deal with financial portfolio management and with the public policy aspects of debt management; Modernizing debt management; Creating mechanisms to ensure successful delegation and accountability to the Ministry of Finance and Parliament. This paper"a joint product of the Office of the Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, Development Economics, and Public Debt Management Group, Banking, Capital Markets, and Financial Engineering Department"is part of a larger effort in the Bank to analyze the institutional dimentions of effective government policy.

World Economic Outlook, September 2011
World Economic Outlook, September 2011

Author: International Monetary Fund. Research Dept.

Publisher: INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

Published: 2011-09-20

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781616351199

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The September 2011 edition of the World Economic Outlook assesses the prospects for the global economy, which is now in a dangerous new phase. Global activity has weakened and become more uneven, confidence has fallen sharply recently, and downside risks are growing. Against a backdrop of unresolved structural fragilities, a barrage of shocks hit the international economy this year, including the devastating Japanese earthquake and tsunami, unrest in some oil-producing countries, and the major financial turbulence in the euro area. Two of the forces now shaping the global economy are high and rising commodity prices and the need for many economies to address large budget deficits. Chapter 3 examines the inflationary effects of commodity price movements and the appropriate monetary policy response. Chapter 4 explores the implications of efforts by advanced economies to restore fiscal sustainability and by emerging and developing economies to tighten fiscal policy to rebuild fiscal policy room and in some cases to restrain overheating pressures.

Youth Unemployment and Job Insecurity in Europe
Youth Unemployment and Job Insecurity in Europe

Author: Bjørn Hvinden

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published:

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 1788118898

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Providing original insights into the factors causing early job insecurity in European countries, this book examines its short- and long-term consequences. It assesses public policies seeking to diminish the risks to young people facing prolonged job insecurity and reduce the severity of these impacts. Based on the findings of a major study across nine European countries, this book examines the diverse strategies that countries across the continent use to help young people overcome employment barriers.

Connecting People with Jobs Reaching Out and Activating Inactive and Unemployed Persons in Bulgaria
Connecting People with Jobs Reaching Out and Activating Inactive and Unemployed Persons in Bulgaria

Author: OECD

Publisher: OECD Publishing

Published: 2022-03-15

Total Pages: 163

ISBN-13: 9264320024

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This report on Bulgaria is the eighth country study published in a series of reports looking into how policies connect people with jobs. It provides a detailed analysis of Bulgaria’s inactive and unemployed population and identifies groups of people who would benefit from measures and services provided by Bulgaria’s Public Employment Service.

OECD Skills Studies OECD Skills Strategy Bulgaria Assessment and Recommendations
OECD Skills Studies OECD Skills Strategy Bulgaria Assessment and Recommendations

Author: OECD

Publisher: OECD Publishing

Published: 2023-06-13

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 9264835032

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Skills are the key to shaping a better future and central to the capacity of countries and people to thrive in an increasingly interconnected and rapidly changing world. This report, OECD Skills Strategy Bulgaria: Assessment and Recommendations, identifies opportunities and makes recommendations to improve youth skills, improve adult skills, use skills effectively in the labour market and at work, and improve the governance of the skills system in Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian Economy
The Bulgarian Economy

Author: Derek C Jones

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-01-22

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 0429790503

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First published in 1997, this volume examines how Bulgaria has been an early starter, but a slow and often erratic mover in the path of stabilization and systemic transition. This book provides a most useful account of the development to date, and of the costs associated with Bulgarian strategy (or lack of), empirical analysis and theoretical reflections, especially in comparison with other transition economies. It will be of great interest to any scholar, official or businessman involved not only with Bulgaria, but more generally with post-communist countries.

Youth Entrepreneurship and Local Development in Central and Eastern Europe
Youth Entrepreneurship and Local Development in Central and Eastern Europe

Author: Bruno Dallago

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-11-30

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 1351142623

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This book analyses the opportunities and barriers for youth entrepreneurship amid systemic change in Central and Eastern Europe. The authors cover different aspects of youth entrepreneurship and its contribution to the debate on youth unemployment in transition economies. The book discusses the wide-spread over-optimism regarding youth entrepreneurship, self-employment, and its impact on economic innovation and job creation, resulting from a disregard of critical contextual features and the characteristics of young entrepreneurs themselves. The authors give due acknowledgment of the importance of both factors and so fully understand the impediments to youth entrepreneurship, especially in a transition context. Furthermore, they seek to assess the opportunities and constraints of promotion policies in transition economies. Most importantly, the book provides the first empirical contribution to youth entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern Europe by offering a representative number of case studies. The book will be invaluable reading for scholars and students of transition and developing countries, particularly those with an interest in entrepreneurship.