Bulgaria’s labour market could be face with a dramatic crisis after 10 years due to the rapid ageing of the population, Sega daily said on its website.

If the economy continues to grow at the current good pace, there will be a severe shortage of workforce from 2025 onwards, according to a study conducted by the Economic Research Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the daily said.

Bulgaria’s population is melting away at such a rapid pace that even the maximum inclusion of pensioners and unemployed won’t be enough to meet the needs of the labour market, the authors of the study opined .

"Now we are talking about a shortage of qualified labour force only, but it is very likely to have a shortage of any labour force within 10 years", the daily quoted Lyubomir Ivanov, an expert from the institute, as saying.

Population aged between 20 and 64 years is expected to shrink to 3.77-3.78 million by 2030, according to forecasts of the National Statistical Institute.

Even now, with the official unemployment rate at nearly 11%, a number of economic sectors are complaining from a shortage of labour force. Bulgaria is now looking for at least 10,000 IT professionals.

Businesses are increasingly talking about shortages of doctors and nurses, engineers, fitters and welders. Not surprisingly, employers have been increasing pressure on the authorities to speed up the procedure for issuing work permits to foreign nationals, according to the article.