1. Legal & Reporting Context

Key Laws & Principles

• Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria – guarantees equal rights and equal pay for equal work.
• Labour Code (Art. 4) – prohibits discrimination in remuneration based on sex.
• Protection against Discrimination Act – implements EU Equal Treatment Directive, forbids gender pay discrimination.
• EU Pay Transparency Directive (2023/970) – transposed via amendments to national law in 2024; requires “equal value” categories and pay-gap reporting on request.

Who Must Act?

• All employers in Bulgaria (public & private) must uphold equal pay principle.
• Large undertakings (≥ 250 employees) will have to report aggregate pay-gap data by end-2025 under the new transposition.
• Any employee can request average pay data for “equal-value” roles.

2. Calculation Methodology

1. Snapshot Date

Choose a consistent date (e.g. December 31) to extract payroll & HR data each year.

2. Data Collection

• Gender (female/male)
• Base salary (BGN, annualised to full-time equivalent)
• Total remuneration (bonuses, allowances, benefits)
• Occupation code (see Section 3)
• Job level (junior/mid/senior/manager)
• Employment type (full-time, part-time, fixed-term)
• Tenure (years in role)

3. Data Cleaning

• Convert all pay to FTE (full-time equivalent) amounts.
• Ensure BGN currency and correct snapshot conversions.
• Map any unmapped roles to nearest OCC code.

4. Gap Formula

(Men’s avg or median pay − Women’s avg or median pay)
÷ Men’s avg or median pay × 100
    

5. Analyze Common Drivers

• Unequal pay in same occupations
• Gender imbalance in senior vs junior roles
• Segregation by high-pay vs low-pay occupations
• Unequal part-time representation
• Hiring, promotion & turnover differences

3. Bulgarian Occupation Classification

NSRK 2011 (Национална Статистическа Рамка на Класите)

Bulgaria uses the National Classification of Occupations 2011 (NSRK-2011), aligned to ISCO-08 for labour statistics and policy. Maintained by the National Statistical Institute (NSI).

• 1-digit Major Groups (10): e.g. 1 – Legislators & Managers; 2 – Professionals; 3 – Technicians; … 9 – Elementary Occupations.
• 2-digit Sub-Major: 40 categories.
• 3-digit Minor: ~130 groups.
• 4-digit Unit: ~450 detailed occupations (e.g. 3341 – Primary School Teachers).

Connection to ISCO-08

• NSI publishes a crosswalk mapping NSRK 4-digit units to ISCO-08 4-digit unit groups.
• Mapping based on matching job tasks, skill levels & education requirements.
• Allows Bulgarian GPG data to benchmark against EU/OECD metrics.

Assignment & Validation

• Map each job title in HRIS to NSRK-2011 4-digit code.
• Validate groups have ≥ 5 employees before any public reporting.
• Store both NSRK and matched ISCO-08 codes for audit.

How Bulgaria Uses NSRK-2011 to Classify Occupations

1. Underlying Taxonomy: NSRK-2011

The National Classification of Occupations 2011 (NSRK-2011), maintained by the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, structures all jobs by tasks, skills and education, ensuring a gender-neutral basis for pay-gap analysis and labour reporting.

• 1-digit Major Groups (10 categories): e.g. 1 – Legislators & Managers; 2 – Professionals; 3 – Technicians; … 9 – Elementary Occupations.
• 2-digit Sub-Major Groups: 40 divisions across all sectors.
• 3-digit Minor Groups: ~130 occupational families.
• 4-digit Unit Groups: ~450 detailed occupations (e.g. 3341 – Primary School Teachers).

2. Connection to ISCO-08

• NSI publishes a crosswalk mapping each NSRK-2011 4-digit code to its equivalent ISCO-08 4-digit unit group.
• Mapping aligns on job tasks, required skill levels and qualification criteria.
• Enables Bulgaria’s gender pay gap data to benchmark internationally under the ISCO standard.

3. Assignment & Validation

• Map every internal job title in your HRIS to the nearest NSRK-2011 4-digit code.
• Ensure each occupational group has at least 5 employees before any public reporting.
• Retain both NSRK and mapped ISCO codes for audit and comparative analysis.

4. Benefits for GPG Analysis

• Objectivity: Official, publicly-published definitions, free from subjective weighting.
• Comparability: Aligns with national labour surveys and EU/OECD benchmarks.
• Granularity: Drill from broad categories to detailed occupations as needed.
• Neutrality: Based solely on job content, tasks and qualifications.