With a Decision of the Council of Ministers from 15.07.2021, an Employment Strategy of the Republic of Bulgaria 2021-2030 was adopted. The document is developed on the basis of the achieved results of the previous Updated Employment Strategy 2013 – 2020 and the gained experience of the country as a full EU member. The economic and social challenges faced in the recent years, as well as the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on society, have been taken into account. The actions in the Strategy are also bound by Bulgaria’s commitments in the field of employment, deriving from the need of implementation of the Action Plan of the European Pillar of Social Rights.
The goals and priorities of the Employment Strategy 2021 – 2030 are derived from SWОT analysis of the labor market’s active state. One of the opportunities outlined in the analysis is related to the provision of adequate education and training on the labor market:
“Changes in the education admission plan for a more complete adaptation to the demand on the labor market; for the unemployed – advanced trainings and trainings on request of employers; trainings for employees; import of labor force from third countries; providing the necessary funds from the state budget, training of employed and unemployed persons for gaining the respective skills required by employers, including advanced training, mass training of the population for acquiring digital skills”
The main quantitative goals set in the Strategy are:
– Achieving a coefficient of up to 77.7% economic activity for the population between 15 and 64 years of age (against a value of 72.2% for 2020);
– Reduction of the relative share of unemployed and non-participating in education and training persons aged 15 – 29 and training of the population of the same age up to 15% (at a value of 18.1% for 2020);
– Relative share of persons who participated in training in the previous 12 months, 25 – 64 years up to 35.4%.
Within the activities an united digital platform for online adult education, including for the unemployed and employed is planned, which will provide online training opportunities for acquiring professional qualifications and key competencies if applicable. In order to ensure high quality of education, a mechanism for external evaluation of results from trainings for acquiring professional qualification is provided, financed with public funds, through the development of adult education services. Among the planned activities is the updating of the state educational standards and the curriculas in order to increase the quality of the educational process and to ensure compliance of the acquired skills with the needs for successful professional realization and active civil behavior. Elements of the reform are also: updating the existing model for monitoring and quality control of vocational training provided by vocational training centers, improving the communication between NAVET, institutions offering vocational training and other stakeholders – employers, government institutions ( MLSP, NEA, NRA, SAMTS), users of the service, including by upgrading the information system of NAVET, implementing an affiliate system for evaluation of the quality of VET.
The implementation process will be followed up through a system of indicators for monitoring and analyzing the progress in the framework of implementing the Employment Guidelines, approved by the Employment Committee at the European Commission, as well as through the progress reporting indicators for the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights.
Link to the document (in BG) – https://www.mlsp.government.bg/uploads/26/zaetost/employment-strategy-2021-2030.doc
