Проект „Разработване и внедряване на информационна система за оценка на компетенциите на работната сила по браншове и
региони”
Проектът се осъществява от Българска стопанска камара – съюз на българския бизнес с финансовата подкрепа на Оперативна
програма „Развитие на човешките ресурси”2007-2013, съфинансирана от Европейския социален фонд и Република България, по
договор № BG051PO001-2.1.06
Research on the educational
and vocational qualification
structure of the workforce
at national, sector,
and regional level
ANALYSIS 5.2.2.
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SUMMARY
Education is becoming a more and more important economic factor with deep
public significance, not only a social phenomenon. Apart from being a prerequisite for
social development, the high educational level of a country is closely related to its
welfare for it triggers its economic potential. Technological changes lead to changes in
the employment structure which brings forth the need to incorporate the educational
system into the technological restructuring. This is a way to strengthen the market
relation between education and business and to produce stimuli for the educational
system improvement so that it could face the challenges which technological changes
bring about.
The analysis “Research on the educational and vocational qualification
structure of the workforce at national, sector, and regional level” aims at defining and
assessing the basic development tendencies in the educational and vocational
qualification structure in the period 2004-2009 by studying their quantitative
indicators at a national level, as well as in the selected sectors, economic activities and
districts in the country.
The emphasis in the research falls on an analysis of the processes in the system
of tertiary education and secondary vocational education and highlights current and
potential problems in both spheres. The lack of statistics about workforce educational
level by economic activities is the main reason why this research is directed chiefly
towards analyzing the indicators of workforce educational level and more specifically
the age groups within the higher education and secondary vocational education. The
development of the educational system in general, and the two subsystems in
particular, as well as the tendencies in their alternation have been assessed by
comparing them to analogous indicators for the European Union in general and the
separate member states in particular.
Researching and assessing the degree to which university and vocational school
graduates fulfill their potential on the labour market is a way to facilitate a better
match of the level of preparation and qualifications a graduate has and the employment
structure by economic activities and regions, as well as an important factor for the
analysis of the workforce educational structure which is to be done later on.
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This research strives after a more exhaustive analysis of the current state and
alternation of the vocational and qualification structure at a national level and within
the selected sectors and basic economic activities, which are considered priority to the
project – “Computer programming, consultancy and related activities”, “Manufacture of
computer, electronic and optical products”, “Basic metals production”, “Hotel
management”, “Restaurant management”, “Foods production”, as well as in the
selected districts – Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas and Stara Zagora.
A large number of quantitative indicators, indicative of the current state of the
workforce educational and vocational structure and the educational level for the period
2004-2009 have been studied. Stemming from up-to-date statistics, the indicators for
the development of tertiary and secondary education (focusing on the secondary
vocational education) have been researched at a national and regional level. The
paper assesses the changes in the reviewed indicators and draws conclusions about
the current state and basic tendencies in the development of the educational and
vocational structure of the employed people and the workforce in various respects
during the period 2004-2009.
The workforce educational structure in Bulgaria is considered good in general,
and in terms of basic quantitative indicators development. There is a clear tendency
for the number of low educated people to decrease during this period, while the
number of university graduates increased at the same time. Nevertheless, the
participation in the educational system is seriously lagging behind the average EU level.
During the whole period, Bulgaria exhibits some of the lowest percentage of students
in the age range 15-24 compared to the population total number in this age group.
Bulgaria is among the last countries in the EU when it comes to number of students in
15-29 age group in comparison to their total number in this age group. Despite the
positive tendency of an increasing number and share of young people who continue
their education in universities, Bulgaria is still lingering behind the other European
countries. Hence, the country would have difficulties fulfilling the Europe 2020 strategy
goals in terms of educational system enhancement. The general share of the population
between 20-64 who is engaged in education and vocational training is still too low. Even
though there is a positive change during the whole period, the percentage of
workforce with a university degree is still lower than the average EU one. If the growth
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of economically active people with a university degree continues, the lag from the EU
average indicators shall become more and more acute and difficult to overcome.
The country is seriously lingering in terms of developing the life-long learning
programme. There is a small number of university students enrolled in vocational
programmes, while those enrolled in economic sciences, administration, public
sciences and human behaviour studies predominate, which however, do not match the
overall economic situation in the country. There is a most disturbing tendency for a
radical drop of PhD students which could pose serious obstacles to science and
research development in the future and could make the current poor technological
update of the Bulgarian economy even worse.
The analysis of the information concerning freshmen, students and graduates in
different majors and vocational fields in the period 2005-2009 has shown that there is a
poor link between the number of majors and admitted students and the actual needs
of the business, and it fails to match the real demands in the separate sectors and
productions. Another tendency is also disturbing – several sectors and economic
activities which are considered a priority tend to employ workforce with lower
qualifications.
There is a tendency for the educational structure to be deformed and not
matching the real labour market demands, which is evident from the increasing
number of freshmen admitted in academically oriented majors. The education-based
fulfillment of the workforce shows a discrepancy between the real sector demands and
the actual workforce educational level. The employment number is highest in the
economic spheres “Trade”, “Restaurant management”, “Construction”, and “Apparel
manufacture” which fails to mirror the prevailing highly specialized educational profiles.
The analysis of the personnel vocational structure has been directed towards
researching the change in number and percentage of the employed people according
to the basic personnel classes as stated in the National Classification of Occupations in
the period 2008-2009 at a national level and in terms of major economic activities and
statistical districts. Special emphasis is laid on researching the personnel vocational and
qualification structure in those sectors and economic activities in the country, which are
considered a priority to the project. The data analysis of the insured persons’ number
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and percentage in the separate classes has given reasons to conclude that the personnel
vocational and qualification structure is inefficient, deformed and exhibits high
percentage of groups with poor qualifications.
A classification index by economic activities and regions has been developed,
and concrete results from the calculation of the economic activities and districts in the
country which are a priority to the project have been given, so that an objective
evaluation of the vocational and qualification structure of the employed people could be
conducted.
The regional analysis of the educational and vocational structure of the
workforce and the employed people is oriented towards:
- Evaluating the current state of the tertiary and secondary vocational
education in separate statistical regions and districts of the country;
- Researching the tendencies in the vocational and qualification structure of the
employed people from the priority economic activities: „Computer programming,
consultancy and related activities”, „Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical
products”, “Basic metals production”, “Hotel management”, “Restaurant management”
and “Foods production”, by analyzing in depth personnel distribution in view of
occupational groups and classes in 5 districts of the country;
- Researching the personnel vocational and qualification structure in the
following districts - Sofia cap., Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas and Stara Zagora.
The comparative analysis of the indicators of the educational and vocational
structure of the workforce and the employed people in the EU member-states aims at
determining Bulgaria’s place in terms of these indicators and evaluating its state and
development in comparison to the general European tendencies. The paper examines all
indicators for which there is available statistical information. When compared to the
indicators for the workforce educational and vocational structure in the EU memberstates, Bulgaria has been placed in the group exhibiting lower than average EU levels,
which is true for most of the indicators studied. The statistics about participation in
tertiary and secondary education looks better; however, the substantial increase
registered in the period cannot compensate the lag from the average EU indicators.
Bulgaria is among the EU member-states with lowest percentage of people continuing
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in tertiary education, as less than half of all the high school graduates enter the higher
education system.
Even though the educational structure is improving in terms of Bachelor’s and
Master’s degree, students lack interest in continuing to PhD, which ultimately brings
the country away from the average EU levels with regard to this indicator and places it
along the seven member-states with lowest percentage of PhD graduates.
The number of students enrolled in economics and administration in Bulgaria
continues to rise, while the general European tendency is to suspend it. The country
lines up with the EU member-states with highest percentage of students enrolled in
technical sciences and the service sector. At the same time, it occupies the last place in
the European Union in terms of students of applied sciences, mathematics and
informatics, trailling behind the EU average level by more than two times. There is a
similar tendency in the health care sector and pedagogics.
The comparative analysis of the personnel vocational structure shows a tendency
towards a gradual attainment of average European levels in this period, as regards
legislators and senior managers taken out of all employed people. The relative
percentage of employees in the service sector, agriculture and the army out of the
percentage of all employed people exceeds the average EU level during the whole
monitored period. Generally, the percentage of low qualified workers in Bulgaria
exceeds the EU 27 one. The considerable discrepancy between education and job
requirements in Bulgaria in comparison to the average European situation is also
disturbing.
Based on the summarized results from the analysis of the workforce and
personnel educational and vocational qualification structure, recommendations are
produced to overcome the registered problems and deformations, including bringing
forward regulation amendments. It is crucial that a purposeful and financially secured
state policy is shaped, as well as a strategy for the development of the secondary and
tertiary education in the short and mid-term, both comprising concrete measures for
overcoming the backlog from similar EU indicators. Stress should fall on guidelines and
practical measures for expanding the scope and improving the quality of the tertiary
education in order to meet the business demand for personnel with vocational training
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and in order to cope with the issues in tertiary education by conducting an exhaustive
analysis of the fulfillment university graduates from particular majors have. Moreover,
students should be encouraged to enroll in PhD programmes, for the decreasing
number of PhD students may bring about a considerable shrink of personnel in the
research and development area in the foreseeable future. Emphasis should be laid also
on the introduction of legislative amendments and implementation of multi-directional
measures in the separate educational degrees in order to limit the number of dropouts. Furthermore, special attention should be paid on the urgent need to come up with
measures for the development of different forms of formal and informal education at
national, regional and company level.
The paper highlights the need to improve information services and obtain data
in order to assess the educational level and structure of personnel within the basic
economic activities, and proposes particular steps to follow for overcoming the
reported omissions.
The analysis rests upon a study of a large number of indicators characterizing the
educational and vocational qualification structure of the employed people and
workforce at national level and within the priority sectors, economic activities and
regions. It uses different indicators which facilitate the research of the educational and
vocational qualification structure from various angles, and at the same time allow for
comparison with other EU countries indicators.
The research is directed towards studying the indicators for the period 20052009, for which there is available information, and is based on data from the National
Statistical Institute and the National Social Security Institute. The authors conducted an
analysis and research of their own of the educational and vocational qualification
structure at national, sector and regional level by comparing and assessing additional
indicators. They used data from the EUROSTAT, the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development and UNESCO.
The study of the current state and development of the personnel educational and
vocational qualification structure and the workforce educational level aims at
presenting a more objective assessment of the educational system development in
view of the actual labour market demands. In this respect, the analysis gives the
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opportunity to specify those academic areas and majors, as well as personnel
categories and occupations at national, sector and regional level, which should be the
focal point of the workforce competence assessment. Modernizing labour markets in
order to increase employment levels is closely related to improving the educational level
and acquiring new skills, crucial for the workforce adaptation to the latest challenges on
the labour market. The more developed an educational system is, and the wider the
access to education and vocational training, the bigger part of the population able to
work is engaged in various educational forms; hence, there is a prerequisite for highly
qualified workforce and an effective labour activity.
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