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Employers in Bulgaria believe that the severe demographic situation in the country, rather than the poverty, is the key factor for labor emigration. At present, the jobs of every 100 workers and professionals, leaving the labor market due to retirement, are occupied by only 63 young people of working age. At the same time, the number of economic emigrants in recent years exceeds the number of people, returning in the country, by an average of 4000.

Recently, there is interest in the Bulgarian labor market by workers and specialists from Ukraine and Moldova, where Bulgarian minorities live. The Association of Industrial Capital in Bulgaria gives as an example the results of a recent competition for engineers at a Burgas machine-building factory, where 40 Ukrainian specialists have applied for a job. The people, who are approved after the competition, will receive a 1.5 times higher salary than their Bulgarian counterparts and will benefit from housing and transportation facilities.

The experts of the Balkan Institute of Labor and Social Policy are of the opinion, that such export will not solve the problems of the Bulgarian employers. In their view, it is more economically feasible and socially more appropriate to focus on increasing the economic activity and the qualities of the available labor resources. There are several hundred thousand workers, some of which are highly qualified. There are between 150 and 200 thousand people with disabilities, but they are not particularly wanted by employers.

Bulgarian employers hope to fill the labor shortage with workers from Vietnam as the country specializes in the export of human resources. Entrepreneurs give examples with Romania and the Czech Republic, where there are already whole automotive factories with only Vietnamese workers. At the same time, they themselves admit that Bulgarian employers have no experience in the selection of staff from abroad.