About 25% of the people employed in hotels and restaurants work without contracts, a survey by the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry showed.

Lyubov Panayotova, head of the analysts, has announced that the poll included 6,337 respondents and 4,000 companies, members of the Chamber. It included 10 economic sectors, among which were hotel and restaurant businesses, manufacturing, construction, transport and education.

Data has showed that employees who work without signing contracts consist of 25% in hotels and restaurants, 23% in the construction sector and 21% in the textile sector.

The most unregulated payments have been made in Northeastern (2,6%) and in Southwestern Bulgaria (2,0%).

The region with the lowest percentage of contacts is Northeastern Bulgaria, where only 83,5% of the employees have signed contracts.

According to Beata Papazova, head of the project, the high percentage of illegal employees in hotels and restaurants is caused by the character of the business because 70% of the respondent have been small family companies.

The results from the poll also showed that the highest percentage of unpaid overtime has been registered in Northeastern Bulgaria – 48,6%.

The head of the Chamber, Tsvetan Simeonov, has announced that the results of the survey were only the tip of the iceberg.

He pointed out his concern that the real numbers for the country are much higher. The reason for that, he explained, was that the respondents were only companies, which meet the high requirements for membership in the Chamber.