BG ·
Bulgaria: minimum wage rises to €660 gross from 1 January 2027
Bulgaria’s government has set the national minimum monthly wage at €660 gross and the minimum hourly rate at €3.98 from 1 January 2027. This summary is based on media reports; the official decree text was not checked directly.
What has been decided
According to Bulgaria’s public broadcaster BNR (4 November 2026), the Council of Ministers adopted a decree on 29 October 2026 setting the national minimum monthly wage at €660 from 1 January 2027. The amount applies to a full working month based on an eight-hour day and a five-day week. The minimum hourly rate will be €3.98. The legal news portal Paragraf.bg reports that the measure is Council of Ministers Decree No. 235 and that it has been promulgated in the State Gazette. The new rate is not yet in force: it applies from 1 January 2027.
What this means for international workers
The national minimum wage is a floor for pay under Bulgarian employment. If you work, or plan to work, in Bulgaria, check that the gross monthly or hourly pay in your contract for 2027 is not below these amounts for the hours you work. Note that €660 is a gross amount. One media estimate (Nova, quoted by Paragraf.bg) puts the net amount at about €512 for an eight-hour day; your actual net pay depends on your individual deductions, so treat this only as an estimate. Part-time, seasonal or posted work and sector-specific agreements can raise additional questions that need individual checking.
How the decision was reached
BNR reports that the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation failed to reach consensus on the draft decree on 23 October 2026. Employers’ organisations supported the government’s figure of €660, while trade unions opposed it. According to Paragraf.bg, trade unions had called for €690.
What is still unclear
This article is based on media reports (BNR, the public broadcaster, and the news portal Paragraf.bg). During our check we could not open the decree text on an official government or State Gazette page, so the decree number and publication details are as reported by media. The net figure of about €512 is a media estimate, not an official figure. How the new minimum interacts with individual contracts, collective agreements or minimum social security thresholds has not been verified here.
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