Bulgaria: Minimum wage country profile

This profile describes how minimum wages are regulated and set in Bulgaria. It can be read as background information for Eurofound’s annual review of minimum wage setting series. Bulgaria has a national statutory minimum wage (‘минималната работна заплата за страната’) set by the government in consultation with the social partners.

Minimum wage

Information for this page was compiled during December 2023 and January 2024. As Member States are currently transposing the EU minimum wage directive, national legislation can be subject to change. Eurofound intends to update these profiles in early 2025. Users are invited to contact Eurofound if they are aware of changes.

Disclaimer: This information has not been subject to the full Eurofound evaluation, editorial and publication process.

Minimum wage regulation

The minimum wage regulation in Bulgaria is mainly regulated by the Labour Code (especially art. 244), which mandates the Council of Ministers to establish the minimum wage. The Council sets the amount and frequency of updates by decree. Discussions regarding the amount are held by the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation (NCTC). The procedures and organisation for wage bargaining are stipulated by the Wage Negotiation Ordinance of 1991.

The only significant alteration in minimum wage regulations over the past decade occurred with the amendment approved by Parliament on 1 February 2023, discussed in the relevant paragraph.

The most recent governmental decree setting the minimum wage is Decree No. 193 of 12 October 2023 (setting the statutory minimum wage from 1 January 2024).

Actors involved in determining the minimum wages

The competence to the formal determination of the minimum wage relies with the Council of Minister, that sets the rate by Decree.

Key actors involved in establishing the minimum wage (MW) in Bulgaria are the members of the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation (NCTC), whose legal source is art. 3 of the Labour Code and that is composed of two representatives each of the Council of Ministers, of the representative organizations of workers and employees, and of representative organisations of employers. The NCTC:

  • Discusses and provides opinions on draft regulations concerning various matters:This includes labour relations and associated issues, occupational health and safety, employment and unemployment, vocational training, public and health insurance, income and living standards, as well as budgetary policy, and the social consequences of restructuring and privatisation.
  • Conducts consultations and fosters cooperation at the national level:This focuses on labour relations, directly associated labour relations, social security relations, and living standards issues.
  • Coordinates national-level efforts on programmes pertaining to social dialogue issues:This involves programmes funded both nationally and internationally, and includes all parties represented in the National Tripartite Council.

The members of the NCTC are the following:

Process of setting the minimum wage

The determination of the minimum wage in Bulgaria is not regulated in depth by legislation. According to art. 244 of the Labour Code, the minimum wage is determined by the Council of Ministers for each calendar year.

Up to the latest development of 2023, the government proposed the minimum wage, which was then discussed within the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation. The final decision regarding the rate relied on the government, who set the rate by Decree.

However, according to the most recent amendment to Article 244 of the Labour Code, dated 1 February 2023, the minimum wage for the following year must be established by 1 September of the current year and it must be determined in the amount of 50 percent of the average gross wage calculated over a period of 12 months including the last two quarters of the previous year and the first two quarters of the current year. This was explicitly done (according to the premise to the amendment provided in the amending bill) in the effort to comply with the obligation to use ‘indicative reference values to guide the assessment of the adequacy of statutory minimum wages’ provided by EU directive on adequate minimum wages, by employing one of the indicators provided by the Directive as a potential indicative reference value.

This last update to the law seems to reduce the role of negotiations, as the 50% of the average rate is calculated based on statistical information.

Criteria referred to in minimum wage setting

According to the Wage Negotiation Ordinance (art. 10(2)), factors that shall be considered in setting the minimum wage include the needs of workers and their families, the cost of living and its changes, the general level of wages in the country, the social assistance system, the standard of living of other social groups, and economic factors such as the requirements for the country's economic development, the level of labour productivity, and the maintenance of an appropriate level of employment.

As the minimum wage is now provided to be in the amount of 50% of the gross average wage (calculated over a period of 12 months including the last two quarters of the previous year and the first two quarters of the current year) with the recent amendment of 1 February 2023, the ratio to the average wage seems to remain the sole valid criterion for the annual adjustment of the minimum wage in Bulgaria (operationalised on the basis of the Annual statistics on employment and labour cost).

Coverage of the minimum wage and exemptions

The minimum wage in Bulgaria applies universally to all employees. Subminima are permissible only in case of on-the-job training, and this will be detailed in the next section ‘Subminima and higher rates’.

Subminima and higher rates

A distinct, lower, rate applies to workers undergoing on-the-job training, particularly within a dual vocational education and training (VET) system. Under an on-the-job training contract, the employer must provide practical training in a designated occupation or speciality. The employee, in turn, undertakes to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge. Throughout their training period, these employees are entitled to compensation based on their work, ensuring they receive no less than 90% of the national minimum wage in Bulgaria (Art. 230(5), Labour Code).

Frequency of payments and how the rate is defined

The minimum wage in Bulgaria is divided into 12 equal monthly payments, regardless of the type of employment contract. The most recent Decree, setting the minimum wage rate from 1 January 2024 (Decree 193/2023), provides both the monthly rate and the hourly rate, ‘for a normal working time of 8 hours and 5-day work week’.

What counts towards the minimum wage

There are no other components contributing to the minimum wage, which represents, according to art. 10(1) of the Wage Negotiation Ordinance, ‘the lowest remuneration for time worked or for work performed’. Additional bonus payments, such as a 13th wage or bonuses, are not included.

Regular national report on minimum wage setting

There is no national report specifically dedicated to the minimum wage in Bulgaria. However, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy regularly prepares a preliminary impact assessment of the proposed amount.

This assessment is carried out before each increase in the minimum wage. Given that the latest amendment stipulates that the minimum wage should be set before 1 September, these assessments could be viewed as regular occurrences.

Other country resources on minimum wages

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