Additional funds will be allocated for employment of people with disabilities

More than BGN 545 000 will be allocated to the National Programme for Employment and Training of Persons with Permanent Disabilities, Bulgaria’s Ministry of Labour and Social Policy said on October 29. The additional funds are provided through an internal redistribution of BGN 1,624,788 from the budget of the National Employment Action Plan for 2019. This will create an opportunity for 657 people to start work.

The allocation of additional funds to the employment programme for people with disabilities is required because of the high interest in it by employers and unemployed. The programme provides employment and income for a period of 2 years for people with disabilities. For most of them, this is the only job opportunity. From the beginning of 2019 to the end of September, 1,231 people worked under the programme. Up to now 6,300,731 BGN have been spent on their remuneration.

Additional BGN 370,430 will also be directed to the national programme "Retirement Aid", which provides employment for up to 24 months to unemployed persons over the age of 58. This improves the opportunities for people enrolled in the programme to qualify for a pension. From the beginning of 2019 to the end of September, 794 people worked under the programme. The funds spent are 4,068,730 BGN.

An increase of the funds is also envisaged under the national programme “Assistants for People with Disabilities” - by 325,275 BGN. The budget of the programme for training and employment of long-term unemployed persons will increase by 218 221 BGN.

The National Employment Action Plan for 2019 provides for BGN 69,540,000 an active labour market policy. It provides employment for 17,573 unemployed people and training for 11,096 unemployed.