A huge increase of the number of sick-leaves at the expense of the Bulgarian employers and the National Social Security Institute has been registered in the recent years, Sega daily informs on its first pages on Monday based on information of the Bulgarian Industrial Association. In the past 6 years the number of days for sick leave paid by the Bulgarian employers has increased with 120%. In 2016 the National Social Security Institute has paid a total of EUR 229 million to Bulgarian citizens who went on sick-leave (the highest amount since 2009). The newspaper reminds that in 2010 the Borisov 1 cabinet adopted an anti-crisis measure, according to which the employers had to pay the first three days of every sick-leave, in order to alleviate the expenses of the National Social Security Institute and control the use of those benefits better. After the introduction of that measure the number of days for sick leave paid by the Bulgarian employers has increased steadily. In 2011 the number of days for sick leave saw a 66% increase as compared to 2010. In 2014 the number of sickness days paid by the employers increased with 99% as compared to 2010. In 2015 the number of those days saw 109% increase as compared to those in 2010 and last year the number of sickness days increased with 120%. The National Social Security Institute benefited from that measure in the first two years following its introduction only and since 2012 the expenses paid by NSSI has increased dramatically. Although NSSI pays sick-leaves from the fourth day onward, in 2016 it paid a total of 16.9 million days for sick leave which was similar to the payments made back in 2009. However, the National Social Security Institute has entered into overspending for almost all types of benefits. In 2016 it paid a total of EUR 700 million. Biggest overspending was made for unemployment benefits (20% more than planned). Although the number of unemployed Bulgarians entitled to unemployment benefits decreased slightly, many people receiving big salaries lost their jobs, which resulted in higher expenditures made by the National Social Security Institute, Sega daily explains.