It’s getting harder each year to find skilled workers in Hargita/Harghita County, the latest data from the county’s Employment Agency reveals. At the end of last year, 5,146 people were unemployed, which at first glance may seem like good news, as it shows a downward trend.
A closer look at the data, however, reveals the dramatic situation that employers in Harghita County face. During the next six to twelve months, they are looking to hire 3,678 new employees. But out of the 5,146 unemployed, only 1,275 can be counted as potential workforce. The rest (3,871) have been unemployed for years, and most of them have no to very low-level educational qualifications, or have never worked in their lives.
And that leads to the main problem: In such circumstances, companies are having a hard time finding skilled workers. Of the 5,146 unemployed on the Agency’s register, 1,570 have been unemployed for more than 27 months. But the biggest problem is that of the more than 5,000 people, only 441 are able to find work easily due to their education and skill level: 4,010 have no education or finished only elementary school or high school. And out of these, only 945 finished high school, and 191 have a university-level education, the Agency’s data reveals.
People aged between 40 and 49 account for the majority of the unemployed (1,280), followed by the 30–39 age group (1,151), and then those under the age of 25 (970). Women account for 45 percent of the total unemployed, with the majority located in Székelyudvarhely/Odorheiu Secuiesc (360), followed by Gyergyószentmiklós/Gheorgheni (322), and Csíkszereda/Miercurea-Ciuc (313).
The data shows that it is hard to find skilled workers in the county, Edit Jánó, head of the Harghita County Employment Agency, told Székelyhon. And the shrinking unemployment rate reflects the fact that the majority of skilled workers are already employed, while the remainder will have a hard time finding a job.
Title image: construction worker. Image source: Pixabay
