Poor labor discipline and excessive labor turnover have aggravated the shortage of skilled workers. The turnover has been particularly high among younger workers. Dissatisfaction with the job, or with living and transportation conditions, and the search for better pay have been cited as the main reasons for the turnover. Progressively severe measures have been introduced to enforce stricter labor discipline, but their effectiveness has been weakened by lax application. One of these measures concerning movement of labor gave workers the right to quit their jobs freely but stipulated that any worker seeking reemployment had to do so through district labor bureaus set up for that purpose. The bureaus would direct the job applicants to industries and positions where labor was most urgently needed. Because of the shortage of skilled labor, however, enterprise managers continued to hire new labor without regard to the requirements of the law.

The shortage of adequately trained personnel adversely affects the utilization of available capacity; it entails frequent breakdowns of machinery and inhibits multishift operation of plants. More than 20 percent of worktime is usually lost through idling, and equipment is used at no more than 50 to 60 percent of capacity. New plants completed in 1967 had not reached full production in 1972. Productivity has also been kept low by the lack of mechanization of auxiliary activities, such as loading and unloading, inter- and intrashop transport, and warehousing. In 1972 the minister of labor and social welfare stated that labor productivity in Bulgarian metallurgy was only half as high as in some of the advanced industrial states.

The presence of unemployment has never been officially admitted, but a certain degree of unemployment and underemployment, nevertheless, exists in several rural areas of the country. Recognition of this fact was evident in the decision of the BKP Central Committee plenum, published in March 1970, on the territorial redistribution of production forces (relocation of industry) and in subsequent economic studies concerning this subject.

PRODUCTION

Gross industrial output amounted to about 13.9 billion leva in 1970 and reached 15 billion leva in 1971. According to official data, industrial output more than tripled in the 1960-71 period. The high average annual growth rate of 11.1 percent was accounted for, in part, by the low initial level of industrial development, as a result of which relatively small absolute increases in output were equivalent to high percentage rates of growth. The contribution of industry to national income (net material product) rose from 46 percent in 1960 to 50 percent in 1969 but declined to 49 percent in 1970.

The most rapid growth occurred in basic industries that were given priority in the allocation of investment and labor. Production of the iron and steel industry rose almost ninefold, and the output of fuels, chemicals, and rubber increased more than sixfold. The output of machine building and metalworking industries increased 5-½ times, and the production of electric power, building materials, and cellulose and paper rose about fourfold. Preferential development of basic industries continued through 1972.

The lowest growth rates among basic industries were attained by the timber and woodworking industry and nonferrous metallurgy. Some foreign observers have wondered when the available nonferrous ore reserves have not been exploited more intensively. As for timber production, its volume has been restricted by the limitation of forest resources. Production by consumer goods industries generally increased by from 2.1 to 2.7 times, except for glass and porcelain wares, the output of which rose almost fivefold.

By far the most important industries in terms of output value in 1970 were food processing, and machine building and metalworking; these industries accounted for 25.4 and 20.2 percent of total output, respectively. Next in importance, with 9.1 percent and 7.5 percent of the total were the textile and the chemical and rubber industries. The output of the clothing industry—4.9 percent of total output—surpassed the production of fuels. The contributions of other industries to the total industrial output ranged from 0.9 to 3.7 percent. The structure of industrial output in value terms reflects, in part, the system of prices used in valuing the output.

Although the country's industrial development has had a history of only two decades, industry produces a wide variety of industrial and consumer products, including machine tools, ships, computers, automatic telephone exchanges, and television sets (see table 20). Bulgaria was also reported to possess the largest plant in Europe, and second largest in the world, for the production of electric forklifts and similar industrial vehicles. The quality of many products, however, though improving, has not measured up to average world standards. In 1972 the chairman of the Administration for Quality Standardization, and Metrology stated that his organization was confronted with a difficult long-term task of developing an effective quality control system and of catching up and keeping pace with the constantly rising world quality standards. In his view, attainment of these goals required a fundamental improvement of domestic quality standards, effective organizational and technical measures, well-conceived incentives, and an enormous amount of indoctrination of the personnel involved in production. The chairman was confident, nevertheless, that the country's industry would eventually outstrip the qualitative standards of developed industrial nations in the same way that it had succeeded in outstripping these nations' industries with regard to quantitative growth.

Table 20. Output of Selected Industrial Products in Bulgaria, Selected Years, 1960-71