Foreign Workers Vanish Without a Trace: What’s Behind the Mystery in Bulgaria?

In a discussion on Nova TV, Veselin Nalbantov, vice-president of the Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association, along with Todor Kapitanov, vice-president of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (CITUB), and Tomcho Tomov, an expert at the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce (BCC), tackled the issue of the labor force in Bulgaria. They focused on the mysterious disappearance of foreign workers from Nepal and Sri Lanka who were recently employed on the Black Sea coast, as well as the aging workforce in the country.

Nalbantov highlighted a growing European trend where the number of workers from Asia has increased by 5%. However, these workers have nearly vanished from Bulgaria, leading Nalbantov to suspect that a trafficking ring for transferring workers to Western Europe might be in play. He expressed concern that these workers, who left their luggage and passports behind, may have been instructed to abandon their documents due to the illegal nature of this operation. He urged the employment agency to locate these individuals and take appropriate action.

The conversation also touched on the aging workforce in Bulgaria, with a study by CITUB and BCC warning that if the current trend continues, 48% of all workers in Bulgaria could be over 55 years old within the next 20 years. This projection specifically concerns sectors like canning, woodworking, furniture manufacturing, metallurgy, brewing, and petroleum product trade.

Tomov explained that the research involved over 60-70 enterprises of various sizes, suggesting that the situation could be even more concerning in other sectors. He pointed out that only 6-7% of the workforce in these industries consists of young people under 25 years old.