site.btaLabour Minister Kalfin: "People with Secondary Vocational Education in Strong Demand in Bulgaria"

Labour Minister Kalfin: "People with Secondary Vocational Education in Strong Demand in Bulgaria"

Sofia, June 29 (BTA) - "There is a strong demand for people with
secondary vocational education in Bulgaria, who have learnt a
trade back at school and are well trained," Bulgarian Deputy
Prime Minister and Labour and Social Policy Minister Ivailo
Kalfin said here on Monday, quoting the results of a recent
National Employment Agency survey.

Kalfin was speaking at a forum on "Youth Employment: Challenges
and Solutions," organized by the European Court of Auditors and
the Bulgarian National Audit Office.

According to the same survey, 50 per cent of employers need
workers with secondary vocational education, and another 20 per
cent are ready to train on their own workers who are secondary
school leavers. Sixteen per cent of companies have jobs for
university graduates, and merely 12 per cent need people with
primary education or no education at all.

The survey found that 13 per cent of employers are ready to
create new jobs over the next 12 months. Sixty per cent,
however, are of the opinion that secondary school does not
provide enough knowledge to start work. Respondents said that 52
per cent of new job holders are unable to assume responsibility
of their own, and 48 per cent cannot work in a team.

Kalfin pointed out that while youth unemployment in Bulgaria
approximates the European average, the largest percentage of
young people in this country steadily drop out of the labour
force and are not captured by unemployment statistics. Nearly
half of the long-term unemployed in Bulgaria are too
undereducated to stand a chance of entering the labour market.
Young people need more tangible incentives to get training. In
the Deputy PM's opinion, a minimum wage can hardly attract young
people's interest, but, on the other hand, larger wages should
not be offered by the training programmes so as to avoid an
imbalance between young people working under the programmes and
the rest.

Central bank statistics set remittances from abroad to Bulgaria
at 1,700 million leva, which is an indication that quite a few
young people are practically maintained by their parents and do
not regard employment as a means of livelihood. "Improved life
prospects must become a key incentive," Kalfin argued.