15.06.2022
THE EMPLOYMENT AGENCY ANNOUNCED WHAT KIND OF STAFF THE COMPANIES ARE LOOKING FOR
The number of employers who intend to look for new staff in the next 6 months is increasing. This is indicated by the first for 2022 study of the needs of employers for labor force of the Employment Agency, which was conducted in the period February - March this year. The survey is organized jointly with the Employment Commissions of the Regional Development Councils in the 28 districts in the country. It is nationally representative and was conducted through surveys among a statistical sample of employers representing 378,752 active enterprises in the country.
The results of the survey show that 60,842 companies will be looking for new staff in the next 6 months. Compared to the poll in February-March 2021, their number increased by 2,620 or 4.5%. The business states the need for 239,339 workers and specialists with skills in various professional fields.
Over the next 12 months, employers will be looking for 128,789 specialists with a qualification acquired in the system of secondary vocational education and vocational training. The most sought after will be a waiter-bartender, cook, machine operator, tailor, builder, builder-assembler, welder, operational accountant, electrician, cashier and others.
The Bulgarian business will need another 62,905 specialists with legal capacity or higher education. Among them, the most sought after are drivers, nurses, teachers and doctors. Compared to the previous year, the number of sought-after graduates increased by 6,300 or 11.1%. The survey shows that 47,645 non-skilled workers will be needed in various sectors of the economy over the next 12 months. Compared to a year earlier, their number decreased by 8,100 or 14.5%.
70.7% of employers in the country face difficulties in securing staff. On an annual basis, their share increased by 2.3 percentage points. Employers face the most serious difficulties in finding sales consultants, cooks, tailors, machine operators, programmers. For comparison, a year ago there was the greatest shortage of machine operators, operational accountants, assistant educators, welders and electricians.
A new wave of COVID-19 will affect employers, according to a study by the Employment Agency. 19.4% of those who intended to hire staff will stop the demand altogether, or 11,800 companies. The strongest negative impact on the intention to hire new staff in a new pandemic will be felt in the sectors of trade, hotels and restaurants, where 1/3 of companies will refuse to look for staff. However, 50.5% of them, or more than half, will not be affected by the emergence of a new COVID-19 wave - that's nearly 31,000 companies.
When new restrictive measures are introduced for businesses, the low-skilled workers will be the most affected. In such a scenario, employers are expected to abandon their plans to hire just over 10,000 workers with such qualifications. Nearly 5,000 jobs for qualified specialists with secondary and higher education will also remain undeclared in the presence of a new pandemic wave.
The most preferred form of state support for maintaining employment among employers in COVID-19 restrictive measures remains "80 out of 20" - expressed in 33.7% of respondents, followed by "60 out of 40" - in 14.5% of cases. Only 3.4% of employers who intend to hire staff will give up this intention, regardless of what state aid is offered to them.
According to the study in the medium term, i.e. in the next 3 to 5 years, the required specialists with higher education will be 173,784 people or 7.6% of employees in employment at the end of March 2022. The three most popular professional fields will be Pedagogy, Economics and Electrical Engineering, electronics and automation. Over the next 3 to 5 years, Bulgarian business will need 208,964 specialists with secondary education. Compared to February 2021, demand decreased by nearly 33,500 or 13.8%. The most needed will be specialists in wholesale and retail trade, construction, production technologies - textiles, clothing, footwear and leather, mechanical engineering, metalworking and metallurgy and others.
Sofia-city remains the area where most workers and specialists are expected to be hired - 67,064, which is 28% of all stated needs in the country. In 12 districts, employers said they would need more staff than a year earlier. These are the districts of Sofia-city, Varna, Dobrich, Sofia district, Ruse and Pleven and others. The lowest demand is in Burgas, Plovdiv, Targovishte, Haskovo and Lovech and others.
The study of the needs of employers covers proportionally enterprises with different numbers - from micro-enterprises with less than 10 employees to large enterprises with over 250 people. According to the economic activity, the largest share of the surveyed enterprises is in the sector "Trade, transport, hotels and restaurants" (34.3%), followed by the enterprises in the sector "General government, education, humanitarian health" with 16.1% representativeness, and in third place is the industry sector with 14.4%.
The Labor Force Needs Survey is conducted by the Employment Agency twice a year in order to collect and analyze up-to-date information on the professions, competencies, knowledge and skills of the employees sought by employers and to plan measures for organizing their professional training.
