Bottleneck Vacancies in the Czech Republic

Transcription

1 Bottleneck Vacancies in the Czech Republic Bottlenecks appearing in the construction and manufacturing sectors Difficulties with recruitment are reported only by 14% of employers (based on a survey published by Manpower), compared to 37% in The most significant proportion of bottlenecks vacancies appear within low qualified professions (administrative and support service activities, construction and manufacturing sectors). Bottlenecks in high-skilled occupations are in the rapidly expanding health care and ICT sectors. The impact of the economic crisis can be seen in the demand for sales representatives as companies focused on sales of products on stock and subsequently on the acquisition of new clients. The number of recently emerged bottleneck vacancies is above the European average. These new bottlenecks are registered across a number of sectors and include e.g. ICT professionals, health professionals, bricklayers and related, cooks, heavy track and lorry drivers. Lack of qualified graduates for the higher skilled occupations The main reason for bottlenecks within the high skilled occupations is a lack of candidates with the right qualifications, in particular graduates; experienced workers are also in high demand (medical practitioners, ICT occupations). For the medical practitioners (both specialists and generalists) this is due to demographic changes but also to mobility within European labour market, which leads to competition from better paid jobs in other countries. Similar mobility reasons apply to ICT staff but the primary reason is rapid development of ICT. These workers are very difficult to recruit, although the number of vacancies is substantially lower in comparison to nonskilled occupations. Lower skilled occupations (sweepers, drivers, labourers, bricklayers, handlers) are not attractive mainly due to low salaries and poor working conditions (shift work, manual tasks). Mitigation strategies are being implemented mainly at the level of employers With regards to actions undertaken by employers, the most frequent mitigation strategy is to provide additional training to their current employees. This is the case particularly for lower skilled occupations where employers judge that a short training period is sufficient to gain the required competencies for the job. Where this is not applicable employers are recruiting staff from other regions or countries (both EU and non- EU) to cover the shortage. Assessment of available evidence Scarce. See page 5 for more information. Czech Republic 2013 Population: 10.5m Workforce: 5.0m Unemployment: 7.5% TOP 20 Bottleneck Vacancies in the Czech Republic 2013 Occupation (ISCO-08) Sweepers and related labourers Heavy truck and lorry drivers Specialist medical practitioners Commercial sales representatives Sewing, embroidery and related workers Sewing machine operators Welders and flame cutters Cleaners and helpers in offices, hotels... ICT operations technicians Insurance representatives Metal working machine tool setters Building construction labourers Cooks Manufacturing labourers Application programmers Bricklayers Mechanical machinery assemblers Blacksmiths, toolmakers and related Freight handlers General medical practitioners Development since 2008 Page 1

2 Top 20 Bottleneck Vacancies The list is compiled using records of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, data collected from the Labour Offices quarterly in the period Ranking is based on the information from last quarter of the year (2011) and takes into account number of vacancies unoccupied longer than 12 months. However, not all employers fulfil their reporting obligations, thus it is uncertain how representative the final list of bottleneck vacancies is. During the economic crisis the unemployment rate grew from 6.0% to 9.6% (2010, 2011) and the number of potential applicants for one vacancy increased from 3 to 14. The economic situation in the Czech Republic is gradually recovering. The labour market is not balanced but the number of employers reporting bottleneck difficulties dropped from 37% (2008) to 14% (2012). Some of these low-skilled occupations can be influenced by season. This may concern some jobs linked to construction, hotel industry and agriculture. Although the construction and the wholesale and retail trade sectors were the most influenced by the crisis and despite the fact that growth in construction remains slow, construction labourers and bricklayers are still in demand. With regards to high skilled occupations Czech healthcare is experiencing some bottleneck problems in terms of both specialist and general medical practitioners. Commercial sales representatives and insurance representatives are highly demanded. In both cases the high turnover can cause that reported figures are higher than reality. Nevertheless, both jobs are considered exhausting and very much depending on personal networks therefore quite short-term. The bottleneck vacancies in ICT follow the standard pattern quick sector development and therefore insufficient supply of qualified specialists. Ranking is based on the number of unfilled vacancies (more than 12 months) for each occupation. Data are provided by the Labour Offices and processed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (see p. 5). Rank Bottleneck Vacancies ISCO-08 Skills level (ISCO-08) Geographical aspects 1 Sweepers and related labourers Elem National 2 Heavy truck and lorry drivers SM National 3 Specialist medical practitioners HS National 4 Commercial sales representatives HS National 5 Sewing, embroidery and related workers SM National 6 Sewing machine operators SM National 7 Welders and flame cutters SM National 8 Cleaners and helpers in offices, hotels... Elem National 9 ICT operations technicians HS National 10 Insurance representatives HS National 11 Metal working machines tool setters and operators SM National 12 Building construction labourers Elem National 13 Cooks SNM National 14 Manufacturing labourers Elem National 15 Application programmers HS National 16 Bricklayers SM National 17 Mechanical machinery assemblers SM National 18 Blacksmiths, toolmakers and related trade workers SM National 19 Freight handlers Elem National 20 General medical practitioners HS National Elem: Elementary, SNM: Skilled non manual, SM: Skilled manual, HS: High skilled Page 2

3 Main sectors with Bottleneck Vacancies Sectors Transport Industry Health ICT Bottleneck vacancies Drivers Metal working machine tool setters and operators Medical practitioners (specialists and generalists) Operation technicians and application programmers Transport and Industry are important sectors of the national economy and they both display a large number of vacancies according the 2011 data. A proportion of these vacancies are difficult to fill (less than 20%). Innovation and new and improved production technologies are expected to increase demand for machine operators. Bottleneck problems in Transport and Industry Manufacture of machinery (including motor vehicles) is an important sector of the Czech economy. Several occupations on the top 20 list are involved in this sector: i.e. metal working machines tool setters and operators, manufacturing labourers and mechanical machinery assemblers. As a whole cohort of experienced operators is close to retirement, the problem is likely to increase as no replacements are available. This is partly caused by very outdated education system producing graduates who are not familiar with the new technologies, partly by insufficient number of schools preparing such operators and also by weak promotion of the schools and thus small interest of young people to study it. For more information how employers are responding, see the following page on mitigation strategies. Main reasons for bottleneck vacancies Competition for qualified candidates In more skilled occupations main reason is the insufficient number of qualified people often due to the old education system which does not reflect current needs. For the high-skilled job there is also the lack of specialists as well as lack of soft skills (languages, communication, etc.). Moreover, open European labour market enables to find better paid jobs and better condtions in other EU countries (Germany, UK, Ireland). Insufficient interest in the type of work For low skilled professions, the main bottleneck problems relate to low interest and insufficient experience/ hard skills. Most of the low-skilled bottleneck occupation in the Czech Republic occur due to a low attractineness of the occupation caused by low salary and difficult working conditions (dirty, physically demanding jobs, outside). Low salary and poor working conditions A low salary was identified as a factor related to 13 of the bottleneck occupations. In many cases these jobs (sweepers, labourers) are displaced by new technologies, which can also mean that less equipped companies employ staff with low salaries to be competitive. Before the crisis many of these jobs were conducted by small traders (licence), which meant less responsibility and expenses for companies. With the crisis people were seeking for more stable income and preferred regular employment. Low salary and bad working conditions are often the reasons why it is hard to fill these vacancies. Page 3

4 Initiatives to cope with Bottleneck Vacancies Identified initiatives aimed at mitigating bottleneck vacancies are mainly being implemented by employers. In lower skilled professions employers tend to hire applicants with lower skilled profiles and provide short-term training. Mitigation actions that are applied nationally are mostly standard tools of Active Labour Market policies focused on unemployment. Employers also undertake alternative recruitment activities within neighbouring countries and further afield. Skills Strategies National policies For the low-skilled occupations employers can accept applicants with lower skilled profiles, as a short training period is sufficient to acquire the necessary competences. However, there are reports of retention problem occurring when employers paying for the training are not able to retain trained staff (e.g. Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) driving licence training is funded by the employer, but the driver works only for a brief period before leaving the company). Another response that employers have implemented is to decrease staff, rearrange job functions and increase salaries of persons with a wider scope of tasks and responsibilities. No specific measures were taken to deal with the bottleneck vacancies, but it is understood that there is a discrepancy between the demand/ needs of employers and supply of the education system in the country. This is the subject of recent discussions and the first pilot projects (European Social Fund interventions, National Qualification System, Educate for Development) are just being implemented. This involves initiatives such as mapping of the needs of employers and changing education curricula to produce qualified and flexible professionals with adequate skills. Recruitment from abroad Where the skills are not so important employers recruit staff from other neighbouring regions (commuting short distances) or from abroad. The highest proportion of foreigners come from Slovakia, Ukraine, Vietnam and, after 2008, also from Bulgaria and Romania. Foreign workers coming from less developed countries often work in low-skilled professions although they may have high education levels. Employers have to negotiate their employment with the Labour Office. Education There is evidence that the machinery manufacturing industry is responding with measures to ensure a sufficient supply of qualified graduates. The first projects based on close cooperation of schools and industries are currently being pilot tested. They should ensure the preparation of new curricula based on a close relationship between the education sector and practice. As a result they are expected to prepare graduates with required skills and knowledge. Nevertheless, solution of the problem needs a system change and will take some time. Page 4

5 Main sources used to identify Bottleneck Vacancies in the Czech Republic The bottleneck occupations have been identified using one main source: Data collected by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs reported by employers. Quarterly in the period vacancies unoccupied longer than 12 months. The information is processed quarterly by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (up to ISCO 5 digit) but is not further analysed. Data collection continued till 2011 when it was discontinued, no further data are available. It is estimated that only a small proportion of employers provide the information on vacancies. A substantial part of the high-skilled vacancies are advertised by private personal agencies. In addition, a number of interviews with representatives of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the National Educational Fund, the Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs and the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic. The results from the Ministry, interviews and agencies were compared to validate the findings and elaborate specific characteristics of each bottleneck vacancy. Comparison with the ranking of bottleneck vacancies elaborated by the Manpower agency shows that some of the hard to fill vacancies are identical though in a different order. Overall, data availability is assessed to be scarce. The data were collected quarterly in the period by the Labour Offices. Data collection was based on the legal obligation of employers to report vacancies and recruitments. However, only a proportion of employers fulfilled this obligation. The database provided by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs thus contains a number of vacancies for individual occupations (up to 4 digits ISCO Code). For each occupations it contains overall number of vacancies and number of filled vacancies in the period up to 3, 6, 12 and more than 12 months. The final ranking is based on overall number of vacancies available longer than 12 months in the last quarter of The Czech system does not have its own definition or indicator of bottleneck vacancy. To avoid any future misinterpretation of conclusions, the figures reported in the database were used and the authors did not try to express the indicators as a proportion of the overall number of employees or overall number of vacancies in the given occupation. Furthermore, explanations and reasons have been explored through desk research - newspaper articles, dealing with shortages in specific occupations and sectors. As of yet there is no national survey identifying bottleneck vacancies. Sources Records of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affair CR data collected from the Labour Offices quarterly in the period vacancies unoccupied longer than 12 months. Manpower, Talent Shortage Survey Results 2011, available at connect/6ecffb80470e244d9ac3da4a926374bc/2011+talent+shortage+survey_a4_lores.pdf?mod=ajperes Four interviews conducted with key stakeholders and experts. Page 5