In a meeting with the Prime Minister Boyko Borisov on 2 May, Sharan Burrow ITUC General Secretary delivered new economic analysis showing how investing in the green economy can create jobs.
“Generating employment is the biggest challenge facing all Bulgarians. Low wages and poor working conditions are the twin problems facing those who do have jobs.
“One opportunity to shift away from a low wage economy is to invest in the green economy to generate new jobs,” said Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the ITUC.
Independent economic analysis by the Millennium Institute shows how investing in the green economy of 12 countries can create 48 million jobs over five years.
The ITUC and the Millennium Institute has established the first ‘green job creation benchmark’ providing a guide to the job creation potential of countries and selected industries, with the number of jobs per million invested.
In the 12 country study, Bulgaria ranks seventh for the number of jobs that can be created per million dollars of investment in the green economy.
92.5 green and decent jobs could be created per million dollars of investment in Bulgaria.
Up to 207 jobs per million dollars of investment are projected for the transport sector.
Up to 106 jobs per million dollars of investment are projected for the construction sector.
“Using the new benchmark data, governments like Bulgaria can identify targets on green and decent jobs to be reached in the next 5 – 10 years,” said Sharan Burrow.
“One of the most efficient ways to activate and re-engage workers who lost their jobs at the end of the construction boom would be through green investments in the construction sector. With public resources and private investment it could be a sound economic and environmental strategy,” said Sharan Burrow.
The Bulgarian unions and the ITUC are also calling for an increase in collective bargaining and an extension to branch level collective agreements to help overcome low pay to create decent jobs.
