Employers in the Country with Modest Plans to Expand Teams in the Next Six Months.
Almost all sectors and regions will be looking for employees; however, talent shortage will continue to be a major business challenge, Bulgarian Employment Confederation experts warn.
The first Bulgarian Employment Confederation (BEC) national survey of 826 employers from five regions and twelve industry sectors in the country shows that approximately one fourth of the companies plan to increase staff levels in the next six months. Meanwhile, 6% forecast layoffs, 45% will keep the number of employees, and 26% of the surveyed organizations are unsure about their hiring plans. Thus BEC net employment coefficient — the difference between employers expecting to increase staff levels and those forecasting to decrease them, stands at +17% for the October 2021-March 2022 period.
‘The survey results reflect, on one hand, the economic and political insecurity Bulgarian businesses face and, on the other, the ever increasing problem with talent shortage. We are no longer talking job positions but rather their full redesign and personalization so that employers attract and retain the staff they need, especially in the sectors which have suffered the biggest negative impact of the pandemic,’ commented Nadia Vassileva, BEC chairperson. ‘Both employers and employees have adapted to the new work reality on the go. However, if we crave a smooth way forward, we need to also rely on equally adequate digitalization and legislative framework which are not in place yet.’
Information Technologies, Manufacturing and Outsourcing employers share the most optimistic hiring plans (+49%, +34% and +31% respectively), while Hotels&Restaurants (-7%), Agriculture, Forestry&Fishing (-2%) and Mining (-1%) will offer scarce job opportunities in the upcoming half-year.
‘These numbers are anything but surprising. Employers from the traditionally strong sectors will keep growing because they have being training their staff for years now in the form of in-house academies and institutional partnerships while offering innovative university curricula. Now is the time all companies reexamined their business strategies and provided more upskilling opportunities, as well as a wider access to employment for alternative talent pools such as women and people with disabilities if they want to cross the Rubicon during the next months of patent uncertainty.’
BEC employment coefficient survey also reveals that employers in four of the five regions plan to hire new employees in the October 2021 – March 2022 period. Job seekers can expect many career opportunities in Sofia where the employment coefficient stands at +69%, Plovdiv (+18%) and Varna (+8%). Bourgas employers have modest hiring plans reporting a +5% employment coefficient, while Rousse is the only region which will see no increase in staff levels (-4%) until the end of March next year.
About the Bulgarian Employment Confederation
The Bulgarian Employment Confederation is a non-profit organization that brings together the expertise of the leading HR services companies in Bulgaria, combines creativity, innovativeness, modern digital solutions, adaptability and knowledge of the latest global trends in the human resources field. The confederation’s key objective to form a sustainable partnership with all industry companies in order to build a healthier working environment in Bulgaria. We are not afraid to ask questions and pinpoint the problems of the job market and the labor legislation. This is how we strive to solve them and help the adequate functioning of the labor market: www.bec-bg.com