13.09.2023

10% OF WORKERS WILL BE AFFECTED BY THE GREEN TRANSITION

The development of green technologies inevitably leads to upheavals in the labor market. We still have 7 years to prepare the staff for work at the end of the Green transition, said Nadya Vasileva, director of the Employment Confederation.

"There are countless options for people to be retrained, but a strategy must be created. The state can be assisted by trade unions, employers' organizations, educational experts. Special programs in this regard must be created in a short period of time - a kind of correspondence training in computer skills. It should also be clear to the staff what they would like to work on. Such a program can last a maximum of a year, so that it does not take much time and people do not lose," the expert believes.

Around 40,000 employed people need to meet the needs of new employers after the end of the green transition, the confederation estimated. Coal plants as a type of production will not be competitive in 5 years, Vasileva believes.

"The Green Deal will happen whether we are ready for it or not. From the beginning of industrialization until now, the mechanization of labor has freed millions of people from their hard physical work. At first it caused hardship for them, but subsequently it led to more wealth and abundance,” is her assessment.

The green transition is expected to lead to more work from home, atypical forms of employment and more flexible working hours. "Apart from coal plants, people are actually the great wealth of our country and their retraining is key for them and for the economy. The green transition will allow society to focus on more creative professions. Routine tasks will be automated," predicts Nadya Vasileva.

65% of workers in Bulgaria are employed in services, 30% in production, 5% in agriculture. 10% of manufacturing workers are expected to be affected by the Green Transition. There will be a need for personnel in all sectors, Bulgaria suffers from an imbalance between demand and supply. These are the opinions of employers for years, resorting to importing personnel from third countries, the expert explains.

"Institutions must develop a coherent strategy. 800 million euros are planned for the protection of people from these regions who would lose their jobs in the transition to a green economy. New jobs will be created in the sectors of education, technology, digitalization, agriculture. By 2027, the role of machines in the work process will increase. Every 100 people who leave working age are replaced by 69 people, and this is a serious problem," concluded Nadya Vasileva.