6 Advantages of hiring in Bulgaria

Well, if East Europe is your first pick, then you must pick Bulgaria to meet your talent needs.

Here are some reasons why:

Bulgaria has an outstanding reputation when it comes to education especially in the sciences.

The World Bank report ranked the country 5th globally in the sciences and 11th in mathematics. These kinds of statistics simply guarantee that you will get qualified candidates who are capable of handling the jobs you have to offer.

The pool of IT certified professionals in Bulgaria is also world class. In the Global IT IQ report, the country’s IT talent was ranked third in Europe and eleventh globally. There are nearly 9, 000 IT experts in the country ready to serve.

Bulgaria is also located strategically within the EU. It can easily be accessed from different partsof the world especially for clients who are coming from Europe and the North America.

The pool of IT graduates in the country is also quite impressive. On average, there are about5500 students in Bulgaria who graduate with IT level education. And it’s not just about getting graduates for the sake of it, Bulgaria delivers top of the line graduates. The students were in fact ranked 2nd globally in SAT scores.

Bulgaria has been a member of the EU since 2007. This can give businesses unrestricted accessto the country and the labor force it has to offer. It can also be a gateway to other European markets.

Communication is very important for any IT project to succeed. English levels in Bulgaria are also impressive. Most IT professionals in the country can easily communicate eloquently in English.

Let’s not also forget the time zone. The time difference between Bulgaria and the western world is just 2 hours. This means that projects can easily be coordinated on a real time basis for the best results.

Other companies that discovered Bulgaria

The advantageous conditions for outsourcing to Bulgaria have been identified by many International IT companies. They have expanded their local Bulgarian IT departments during the last 10 years.

These include:

• HP (5,000 people), CSC (600 people)
• SAP Labs (500 people) and
• VMware (300 people), to mention a few companies.

The Bulgarian government has recently implemented a business-friendly economic agenda. This is great news for international businesses who were looking to set up shop in Bulgaria.

The country’s low corporate tax rate, commitment to improving the investment climate and pro-business attitude are all reasons why there’s never been a better time for companies to invest in this beautiful Eastern European country.

• Bulgaria Population – 6,948,445 (Worldometers.info – 2020)
• Capital –Sofia, 1,280,968
• GDP: €65.13 billion (2020)
• GDP per capita: €9 518 (2019)
• Number of labor workforce – 2,31 million (September 2020)
• Employees by leading economic activities (March 2020)
• Manufacturing – 513 662
• Construction – 125 076
• Agriculture, forestry and fishing – 75 331
• Wholesale and retail trade;repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles – 394 958
• Administrative and support service activities – 117 728
• Public administration and defense -113 745
• Education – 167 179
• Human health and social work activities – 144 309
• Unemployment rate: 4.5% (January, 2020)
• Urban area: 4.3%
• Rural area: 9.6%

Education

The numbers above show that College is popular in Bulgaria – 32.8% of the population have attended a college or University here, whereas only 85.8% of people have been through primary or lower education here.

Also, less than 12.7% are graduates from a vocational school and 2% graduate from Foreign Universities preferred by employers here.

• IT – Technical University of Sofia, Sofia University, Technical University of Varna
• Law – Sofia University, New Bulgarian University, University of VelikoTurnovo
• Economy – University of National and Worldwide Economy, Academy of Economics Svishtov, University of Economics Varna
• Humanitarian science – Sofia University, University of Veliko Turnovo, American University in Bulgaria
• Engineering – Technical University of Sofia, Technical University of Varna, University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy
• Medicine and Pharmacy – Medical University Sofia, Medical University Varna, Medical University Plovdiv

Salary levels

In December of 2022, the average wage for Bulgarian employees saw an impressive increase to 1947 BGN/Month (1059.419 USD/Month). This represents a significant jump from its previous high of 1500 BGN per Month and low of 30 BGN/Month.

This number includes employers’ imputed social contributions and actual social contributions, costs for other social expenses and benefits, taxes paid by the employer.

The minimum monthly wage is 399 EUR; the government has agreed to raise the minimum wage to 255 EUR as of 01 January 2018. The minimum wage is mandatory in Bulgaria.

Average salaries in the most advanced sectors (April 2019)

• Electricity,gas,steam and air conditioning supply – €847
• Financial and insurance activities – €900
• Start salary in IT – €1376

The above data is official and rather statistical data. Actual salaries may deviate a lot from the official statistics as in management and IT net remunerations reach averages in EU.

Salaries in Sofia are normally 30% higher than in the rest of the country. So, you may want to think about hiring in other locations.

Taxes

Hiring in Bulgaria is still straight forward and relatively inexpensive. Bulgaria is a country in Europe and has the lowest tax rates among its neighboring countries. This makes it an attractive location for foreign investments.