Euro concerns: What will happen to salaries

I continue with the answers to some of the questions and concerns that have been shared with me about Bulgaria's admission to the euro area. There are several more groups of questions about personal finance before answering questions about macroeconomic stability. Thanks for the patience of all who are still waiting for an answer!

The most common question in the Category « Personal Finance » is « What will happen to prices? » I will address it next week after more questions are collected and I can group them. However, before that, it seems useful to cover a quick question, which is also often asked:

Answer:

The salary is determined in your employment contract. Assuming that it does not change on January 1, 2026, you should receive a salary in euro, which is equal to your salary from December 2025 in BGN, divided into the official course of 1.95583. If you receive less, then your employer has not complied with the contract with you.

This applies to all contracts, not only the labor: the amounts due in BGN become due in euro at the official course of 1.95583.

For example, if the salary recorded in the contract, which is due by the employer for December 2025, is 1500 BGN.

Of course, the net salary (for receipt) will be obtained upon deduction of tax and insurance at the expense of the employee. This means that if there is a change in the tax and social security burden, it can be obtained so that the net salary paid in Euro in January 2026, the amount of the net salary paid in BGN in December 2025, divided into the official course, is different. But such a change, if any, would manifest itself with or without the admission of the euro.

If there is a change in your salary on January 1 or any, the typical case is that it is a change up. But this will not be due to the admission to the euro, but to the fact that you have deserved a higher remuneration in combination with pressure from the labor market on the employer.

There will be a lot of changes in life immediately or very soon after the euro adopted, which would happen with or without euro – the vast majority of changes, good or bad, will not be the result of accepting the euro.

Do not rush to bind a change in the acceptance of the euro.

This is relatively easy to understand when the changes are expected – an example of a contractual salary growth or a change in net income against December, when you have received a Christmas bonus – you know that these changes are not due to the euro. But it is more difficult when the changes are unexpected – then you will look for a « big change in the country », but in general there will be no connection with the euro.

How to find out if something new in our lives is the result of the euro or not, I will try to answer the next series of answers to the group « What happens to prices? »

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This is a personal initiative with a period of June 1, 2025. It has not been ordered, has not been paid and you do not owe a fee or fee to me. It is not a debate or discussion, but answers questions and concerns. To make sure I will see your question, please ask it in a personal message to me. I am committed to posting questions and answers.