Contrary to popular belief, the “salary in an envelope” is a thing of the past in Bulgaria, shows a recent Eurobarometer survey on “undeclared labour”. 

According to it, the hiring of employees without a written contract, even a formal one, has almost disappeared in Bulgaria (1%) and the people, willing to work for a salary in an envelope – without taxes and social insurances, has significantly decreased. Only 6% of the surveyed Bulgarians admitted to getting such payments in the past 12 months. 

Leaders in the list are the Latvians, Dutch and Estonians – 11% replied that they received salaries, wages and honorary payments in an envelope. 

At the same time, an average of 11% of the surveyed Europeans admitted to paying for home or car repairs, babysitting, home cleaning, gardening, tutoring, with the clear knowledge that the income won't be declared. 

Fifty-two percent of Europeans would rather pay an acquaintance, friend, neighbor or colleague for a service or goods. In Luxembourg 31% said they would pay undeclared cash to help someone who needs money. 

Most inclined to buy goods from the grey sector are the Greeks, Dutch and the Latvians (30-28%), whereas the Poles and the Germans are least inclined – 5 and 7%, respectively. Bulgaria is somewhere in the middle. 

The most sought in the grey sector are the home repairs (29% of those surveyed), car repairs (22%), home cleaning (15%) and food (12%). 

Food is the most popular “grey area” in Bulgaria. A total of 41% of the surveyed Bulgarians said they had bought milk, apples, honey, potatoes, cheese or some other kind of food from an elderly village lady, a roadside stand or a farmers market. Twenty-nine percent of those people said they did so because food was of better quality.

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