The first 2022 survey of employers' staffing needs has been launched

The Employment Agency has launched the first study for 2022 of employers' labor needs in Bulgaria. It is held for the fifth year in a row on the basis of Article 10 of the Employment Promotion Act, together with the Employment Commissions of the Regional Development Councils in the 28 regions of the country.

Similar to the previous surveys, this time employers will be surveyed from a statistical sample formed for each area - representatives of different groups in terms of size and economic activity, which will form a national representativeness of the survey. They will be invited to fill in an online survey form and indicate what skills, competences and occupations the job applicants and staff in their enterprises should possess. In parallel, employers can state their needs for workers without special qualifications, as well as those requiring a specific legal capacity.

The current survey will be conducted for the third time in the context of a pandemic. Expectations are that the socio-economic consequences of it will again affect the number and type of personnel that employers believe they will need or will have to release in the coming months and years. In this regard, the Employment Agency has included questions about the impact of the epidemic crisis in the online survey form. With this study, the demand for personnel from the so-called regulated professions.

The analysis of the needs of the business and the administration stated in the survey in the next 12 months will help guide the short-term measures and programs for conducting appropriate forms and trainings for the acquisition of professional and key skills sought by employers. Forecasts of staff release are useful for making decisions to continue, update or create new adequate measures to support the preservation of the jobs of the employed staff, especially in some economic sectors highly dependent on the pandemic.

The expectations of the surveyed employers for the specialists they need in 3 to 5 years are information that supports the setting of priorities in the field of education, training and employment promotion. In this way, not only the ongoing crisis will be accounted for, but also the changes in technology and the organization of work, occurring at a rapid pace in recent months.

The Employment Agency relies again on the active participation of employers from the statistical sample, who will be invited to share their opinion. Their responsiveness is a prerequisite for directing the efforts of all parties to preserve, develop and discover personnel that the business can take advantage of to achieve higher productivity and quality of work.

The survey form can be completed until March 18, 2022, after which the results will be summarized and analyzed at the regional and national level, and the information will be published on the website of the Employment Agency.

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Since 2018, twice a year the Employment Agency surveys employers about their staffing needs in the next 12 months and their expectations for new staff needed in the medium term - in 3-5 years. The summarized results of all previous surveys on the professions and skills sought by businesses are published on the official website of the Employment Agency, under the heading "Workforce Needs Survey".