Bulgarian business will need nearly 262 thousand workers and specialists

Bulgarian business will need nearly 262 thousand workers and specialists in the next 12 months. This is shown by the results of the labor force needs survey, which the Employment Agency conducted in the May-July period, together with the regional employment commissions of the Regional Development Councils in the 28 regions of the country. Employers are in need of 261,926 workers and specialists in the next 12 months with skills and knowledge in various professional fields, which will be necessary for the efficient operation of enterprises. This is nearly 9.3% of the currently employed workforce. Compared to the results of the studies in 2023, there is a slight decrease in the stated labor force needs by 2.6%, or about 7 thousand workers and specialists less. Compared to averages for the record employment year 2019, demand in 2024 is 82% of that in 2019. The survey gathered important information regarding the attitudes of Bulgarian business regarding the expected competencies and skills of the sought-after workforce. Every fourth employer puts personal and social competence first as a decisive factor for business success, followed by language and entrepreneurial competence, respectively with 17 and 12% representation. For 87% of businesses, self-control and discipline are the most essential skills for staff to possess. In the second most important place, employers (85%) place teamwork and communication skills. The survey results also show that 59,219 companies will hire new staff in the next 12 months. Compared to the survey a year ago, their number increased by 3,919 or by 7.1%. Over the next 12 months, employers will be looking for nearly 153,000 qualified specialists. Compared to the stated needs of professionals with secondary education in 2023, the number of needs that employers state in 2024 has decreased by 5.3%. The most sought-after professions will be builders, tailors, cooks, operational accountants, construction technicians, etc. Bulgarian business will need another nearly 59,300 specialists with legal capacity or with higher education. Among them, the most sought after will be teachers, nurses, drivers, doctors, mechanical engineers, teachers, pharmacists, etc. Compared to a year earlier, the number of sought-after specialists with higher education or legal qualifications increased by nearly a thousand or by 1.6%. The survey shows that 49,764 unskilled workers will be needed across sectors of the economy over the next 12 months, also accounting for a year-on-year increase in demand of 650 positions, or 1.3%. The share of employers stating that they will encounter difficulties in finding the specialists and workers they need increased slightly - from 63.8% on average in 2023 to 66.7% in 2024. The most frequently mentioned reason for problems in securing personnel is the lack of sufficient qualifications (education) of the candidates - in 43.1% of cases. There are 17,300 businesses that believe they need to cut staff, compared to 12,600 in 2023, which is a 37.3% increase in employers forced to downsize in the next 12 months. The greatest demand for workers and specialists in the next 12 months is expected in industry - a total of 68,249 people or 26.1% of all stated needs. 55,308 or 21.1% will be sought in trade, transport, hospitality and catering, and 48,710 or 18.6% in public administration, education, health care and social activities. On-the-job training is the most frequently preferred form of solving the problems of insufficient skills of the personnel sought by employers, shared by 43.3% of them. According to the study, in the medium term, ie. in the next 3 to 5 years, the sought-after specialists with higher education will be 226,864 people. The three most sought-after professional fields are Pedagogy, Economics and Social Activities. In the next 3 to 5 years, Bulgarian business will also need 255,864 specialists with secondary education. Specialists in wholesale and retail trade, construction, marketing and advertising, accounting and taxation, etc., will be most needed. The city of Sofia remains the area where the most workers and specialists are expected to be hired - 47,229, which is 18.0% of all declared needs in the country, followed by Varna - with 28,944 (11.1%) and Plovdiv - with 23,433 (8.9%). In 17 out of 28 districts, the stated labor force needs exceed the number of registered unemployed in these districts. Among them are Varna, where the excess is almost 5 times, Sofia-city and Burgas - with an excess of 4 times. The areas where the negative consequences of a lack of sufficient free labor force will not be felt are Vidin, Razgrad and Targovishte. Compared to the results of the study a year ago, in 11 of the districts, there was a reported increase in the need for labor compared to the previous year, and in 17 - a decrease. The most significant increase in the needs of workers and specialists in the Sliven region - 2.5 times compared to the declared needs in 2023. The following are the districts of Sofia-city - with 77% growth, Montana - with 43%, Vidin - with 37%, Pleven - with 36%, etc. On the other side are the regions of Gabrovo, Targovishte and Razgrad, where labor needs have decreased by over 70%. The labor force needs survey is conducted once a year in order to collect and analyze up-to-date information on the professions, competences, knowledge and skills of the personnel sought by employers and to plan measures to organize their professional training. The research is nationally representative on a base of 426,226 active enterprises in the country using a stratified random sample by areas and economic activities. The response rate in this year`s survey was calculated at 37.9% with a population of nearly 10,000 in the general sample and 4,000 in the target sample. The results obtained by using a representative (random) sample are in the form of statistical estimates. Detailed information, including the complete statistically processed data, is published on the website of the Employment Agency.