17.12.2021

WHAT KIND OF WORKERS WILL THE BUSINESS NEED NEXT YEAR?

The Bulgarian business will need 193,792 workers and specialists with skills and knowledge in various professional fields in the next 12 months.

This is shown by the results of the completed second (autumn) for 2021 national representative survey among active employers in Bulgaria on their short-term labor needs, the press center of the Employment Agency announced.

The survey is conducted jointly by the Employment Agency and the Employment Commissions of the Regional Development Councils in the 28 districts in the country.

The survey aims to collect and analyze up-to-date information on the professions, competencies, knowledge and skills of the employees sought by employers. The information collected refers to the demand for labor, both in the next 12 months and for the next three to five years. From 2020, the questionnaire also includes questions concerning the impact of COVID-19 on the required staff.

According to the National Statistical Institute, 4,325 employers in nearly 395,000 active enterprises took part in the autumn survey. In terms of economic activity, employers from the Trade, Transport, Hotels and Restaurants sector participated the most - 37 percent, followed by the Industry and Public Administration, Education, Humanitarian Health sectors - by 14.6 percent each. The largest share of companies is in the major industrial centers - Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, and the smallest - in the districts of Vidin, Silistra, Targovishte and Razgrad.

According to the survey, 46,924 employers intend to hire new staff over the next 12 months. Compared to the poll a year earlier - in September 2020, their number has shrunk by 14.5 percent.

Over the next 12 months, employers will need 108,487 qualified specialists, the most sought after being tailors, machine operators, builders, workers in the food industry, clothing operators, welders, landscaping workers, and operational accountants.

The Bulgarian business will need another 43,710 specialists with legal capacity or higher education, and the most sought-after professions will be: nurses, drivers, teachers, doctors, civil engineers, specialists in Information and Communication Technologies. Compared to a year earlier, the number of sought-after graduates has shrunk by 2.4 percent. There is no change in the most sought-after specialists with legal capacity or higher education. A total of 41,595 workers without a specialty will be needed in various sectors of the economy in the next 12 months, with an increase in demand on an annual basis of 8.1 percent.

A total of 72.2 per cent or 33,879 employers said they had difficulty finding suitable staff. In comparison, their share is 5.4 points higher than that of those who said they encountered difficulties a year ago. Employers have the most serious difficulties in finding sales consultants, machine operators, tailors, operational accountants, builders, while a year ago these professions were: cooks, again sales consultants, electricians, welders, sales representatives and builders.

The main form of employment in the next one year will be a permanent contract and a full-time job, which is stated by 78.8 percent of employers. Remote and home work would be offered by less than 700 employers.

A new wave of COVID-19 will negatively affect the decision to look for new staff at 52.3 percent of employers who intended to hire one. 47.7 percent are those who say they will not reduce the planned number of new staff wanted in the event of a new COVID -19 wave. In the case of such, employers will refuse to create 70,686 new jobs, nearly 70 percent of which will be for unskilled workers and 30 percent for professionals and management positions. In other words, a new COVID-19 wave would reduce the planned job creation by 36.5 percent, with the creation and dissemination of information and creative products being the most affected - a 52.8 percent reduction in new jobs and the construction sector - by 49.2 percent fewer new jobs.

In the next three to five years, the most sought after specialists will be in the fields of Economics, Administration and Management and Informatics and Computer Science, while the demand for specialists with secondary education will be in the fields of Wholesale and Retail, Construction and Production technologies - textiles, clothing, footwear and leather.

The most important competence that employers expect from the required staff is communication in the native language, followed by initiative and entrepreneurship, and digital competence.

In 11 of the 28 districts the declared labor needs are less than the registered unemployed, while in the remaining 17 the need for specialists and workers exceeds the number of registered jobseekers. In the district of Burgas the needs for labor force exceed 2.7 times the number of registered unemployed, in Sofia-capital the needs are 2.3 times more. In Shumen district the labor needs are only 35 percent of the available registered unemployed, in Lovech the needs are 44 percent of the free labor force.

Compared to the results of the survey a year ago, the total demand for labor remains almost unchanged, with half of the districts reporting an increase in labor demand compared to the previous year. The needs for workers and specialists in the Kyustendil district are growing most significantly - eight times. The districts of Vidin follow - almost six times, Yambol - four times, Dobrich - twice. At the other pole are the districts of Stara Zagora and Pernik, where needs are shrinking almost twice compared to 2020.