Employment

A total of 8,000 new jobs will be financed under an employment project as the first framework contracts with employers have already been signed, Bulgaria's National Employment Agency announced.

Some 5,000 unemployed Bulgarians are expected to be hired by the end of October 2014, money.bg reports.

Police officers, fire fighters, rescuers, prison guards and military personnel protested in downtown Sofia against the planned pension age increase, reports the Nova TV national channel.

The several hundred protestors wore red clown noses and demanded the resignation of the caretaker Labour and Social Policies Minister Yordan Hristoskov.

BELGRADE - The employed in Serbia today mark the World Day for Decent Work in difficult conditions that are disastrous to the dignity of work and perhaps the worst over the past 20 years, the United Branch Unions Independence and the Association of Independent Trade Unions of Serbia said in a statement on Monday.

Some 8 thousand young people up to 29 years will be employed by Bulgarian businesses with money from the state by the end of the year under the youth employment program.

Bulgarian business representatives have proposed changes to the methods for setting the minimum amount of insurable earnings.

A review of the pensions being paid out by the Greek state and new, stricter rules governing pension registrations have led to savings of a total of 42 million euros in the past two years, Alternate Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said on Tuesday.

BELGRADE - Serbia's Social and Economic Council (SES) has not reached a decision on minimum wage, because the social partners failed to reach an agreement, Labor Minister Aleksandar Vulin has said.

BELGRADE - The government has insufficient funds for pensions, but pension cuts alone will not be sufficient to ensure the sustainability of the pension system unless they are accompanied by financial consolidation in all sectors, the participants in a debate on pension system reform said on Wednesday.

By Roula Salourou

Initiatives aimed at boosting employment in Greece – a country with 1.3 million jobless – are proving underfunded and insufficient, according to a report presented by the General Confederation of Greek Labor (GSEE) in Thessaloniki on Thursday.

Australia is making it easier for skilled workers to seek employment in the country known for its notoriously strict immigration policy, which has resulted in a shortage of experts in a number of professional fields.