A job applicant in Bulgaria can choose between ten vacancies, which confirms the fact that the country is challenged by a shortage of both skilled and unskilled labor.

The reason is that an increasing number of Bulgarians opt for better paid positions abroad, Oxford Business Group (OBG), a British economic and political intelligence publisher, finds in its latest publication, "The Report: Bulgaria 2008," BTA reports.

With a near zero unemployment rate in Sofia, personnel recruitment agencies rarely if ever can find a suitable applicant who is available for employment, according to the report. According to the National Statistical Institute, 17.6 per cent of enterprises say they are understaffed and that workers' monthly pay rose by 20 per cent in 2007.

Even though Bulgarian labor is relatively cheap by EU standards, employees in some sectors like IT, telecommunications and finance get extremely high salaries, especially at the management level, the analysis says.

The OBG recommends that the Bulgarian Government urgently launch a reform of the educational system, so that students could master skills in demand on the dynamic and rapidly changing labour market.