Trade Unions Call for Change in Methodology for Defining Poverty Line

The Podkrepa Confederation of Labour and the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) have expressed support for changing the methodology used to determine the poverty line. Representatives from both unions told the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) that their positions are in connection to a meeting of the Commission on Income and Living Standards of the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation, where government, unions, and business representatives will discuss a draft Council of Ministers decree proposing a poverty line of BGN 764 for 2026. The current poverty line is set at BGN 638.

The report of Labour and Social Policy Minister Borislav Gutsanov, attached to the draft decree and published in July says that “the proposed BGN 764 corresponds to the poverty line in the EU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) survey, with the national poverty line increasing by 19.7% (BGN 126) compared to the previous year and expanding the scope of social assistance.” The public consultation period ended in early August.

The Podkrepa Confederation of Labour generally supports the new poverty line for 2026, given that the proposed figure follows the current methodology, according to a statement on the union’s website. However, they emphasize that “the new amount remains significantly below the actual cost of living in the country.”

The trade union “insists on updating the amount and changing the methodology for determining the poverty line so that it is linked to the real cost of living. Only then will a decent standard of living for vulnerable and low-income groups in the population be guaranteed.”

The poverty line occupies an important place in poverty reduction policies among various social strata, including the “working poor,” CITUB states in their published position. The union recalls that in 2021, a change was made to the methodology established two years earlier for determining the poverty line, resulting in a significant discrepancy between the income reference year and the year for which the poverty line is applied. “The reference income year is 2023, the year the survey was conducted is 2024, and the year the poverty line is applied is 2026,” they add.

Calculations show that the poverty line for 2026 should be BGN 782 (EUR 400), which is BGN 18 higher than the proposed amount of BGN 764, the union’s position states. They also add that “CITUB will support the poverty line amount provided it is indexed to the prices of the small consumer basket for December of the previous year.”

/DD/

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}