Bottleneck Vacancies in Cyprus

Transcription

1 Bottleneck Vacancies in Cyprus Agricultural and service sectors particularly affected Main bottlenecks appear within the agriculture and livestock sector. The other main sectors affected by identified bottlenecks are the following: accommodation and food service activities, waste collection, cleaning activities, health care services, bakery and pastry as well as manufacturing. Cyprus 2013 Population: 0.86m Workforce: 0.44m Unemployment: 12.1% Shift towards service based activities Due to the economic growth and prosperity during the past 20 years, the economy of Cyprus has shifted from agriculture and manufacturing to services. Bottleneck vacancies mainly appear with low skilled occupations, such as agricultural and livestock workers, refuse workers, bakers and pastry cooks, and technical professions. A few high skilled jobs are also classified as bottlenecks, notably within translation and interpretation activities. Most bottlenecks have been persistent since Reasons include poor working conditions The main reasons for bottlenecks are related to the unwillingness of workers to accept jobs in the occupation because of the poor working conditions, the shift work, the unsociable hours and the low wages entailed. In addition to poor working conditions, technological change and skill mismatches are important reasons for bottlenecks within technical occupations such as carpenters and joiners, sheet-metal workers, electrical engineering technicians and machine operators. Recruitment activity outside the EU The majority of employers overcome recruitment difficulties by attracting workers from third countries, mainly from outside the EU. This is the case of the agriculture and livestock sectors. The strategies and interventions pursued by policy makers are based on active labour market policies. They are implemented nation-wide and target all unemployed persons with a specific focus on young unemployed. The priority of the existing policy strategies is the mitigation of bottlenecks related to the technological change and skill mismatch. Seasonality is an issue for certain specific occupations such as cooks. Assessment of available evidence Medium. See page 5 for more information. TOP 20 Bottleneck Vacancies in Cyprus 2013 Occupation (ISCO-08) Crop farm labourers Livestock farm labourers Mixed crop and livestock farm labourers Cooks (specialized in Asian cuisine) Garbage and recycling collectors Refuse sorters Domestic cleaners and helpers Personal care workers health n.e.c. Health care assistants Home-based personal care workers Bakers, pastry-cooks [ ] Carpenters and joiners Sheet-metal workers Painters and related workers Electrical engineering technicians Insulation workers Plant and machine operators nec Translators, interpreters, linguists General office clerks Hotel receptionists Development since 2008 Page 1

2 Top 20 Bottleneck Vacancies The bottleneck vacancies have been identified mainly from interviews with key actors involved in planning and implementing strategies and interventions for the mitigation of bottlenecks, including the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance, the Public Employment Service of Cyprus, the Human Resources Development Authority and the Cyprus Employers & Industrialists Federation as well as the Statistical Service of Cyprus and Association of Cyprus Tourist Enterprises (ACTE). The recent economic crisis has resulted in less recruitment problems in Cyprus. However, the subsequent reduction of wages contributes to the persistent unwillingness of workers to take jobs in the identified bottleneck occupations. Bottleneck vacancies mainly appear with non-high skilled occupations. A few high skilled jobs are also classified as bottlenecks, notably within translation and interpretation activities. Within agriculture and livestock sector, crop and livestock farm labourers are experiencing severe bottleneck problems. In accommodation and food service activities, skill gaps are registered. Cooks specialized in Asian cuisine are in high demand. A need for Russian speaking workers in occupations such as hotel receptionists and general clerks has recently emerged. In waste collection and cleaning activities, garbage and recycling collectors and refuse sorters as well as domestic cleaners and helpers are very difficult to recruit. Moreover, important recruitment difficulties are identified in the health care sector especially for personal care workers in health services, health care assistants and home-based personal care workers. In the manufacturing sector, there is a persistent difficulty to fill occupations such as bakers and pastry cooks, carpenters and joiners, sheet-metal workers, electrical engineering technicians and painters specialized in motor vehicles repairing. Ranking is mainly based on quantitative data provided by the Public Employment Service of Cyprus and qualitative data supplied by the Cyprus Employers & Industrialists Federation (OEB) and the Human Resources Development Authority. Rank Bottleneck Vacancies ISCO-08 Skills level (ISCO-08) Geographical aspects Crop farm labourers Elem Rural Livestock farm labourers Elem Rural Mixed crop and livestock farm labourers Elem Rural Cooks (specialized in Asian cuisine) SNM National Garbage and recycling collectors Elem Rural Refuse sorters Elem Rural Domestic cleaners and helpers Elem Rural Personal care workers in health services n.e.c. SNM Rural Health care assistants SNM Rural Home-based personal care workers SNM Rural Bakers, pastry-cooks and confectionery makers SNM Rural Carpenters and joiners SM National Sheet-metal workers SM National Painters and related workers SM National Electrical engineering technicians SM National Insulation workers SM National Stationary plant and machine operators n.e.c. SM National Translators, interpreters and other linguists HS National General office clerks SNM National Hotel receptionists SNM National Elem:Elementary, SNM: Skilled non manual, SM: Skilled manual, HS= High skilled Page 2

3 Main sectors with Bottleneck Vacancies Sectors Agriculture, forestry and fishing Accommodation and food service activities Human health and social work activities Manufacturing Bottleneck vacancies Crop farm and livestock farm labourers Cooks specialized in Asian cuisine, Russian speaking hotel receptionists, Chinese and Russian translators and interpreters Personal care workers, Health care assistants Electrical engineering technicians Main bottlenecks appear within the Agriculture and Livestock sector, where there is a need for crop and livestock farm labourers. The other main sectors affected by identified bottlenecks are the following: accommodation and food service activities, waste collection activities such as garbage and recycling collectors and refuse sorters. Other sectors affected include health care services, bakery and pastry as well as manufacturing. Accomodation and food services The accommodation and food service sector is the major growth sector experiencing bottleneck problems in Cyprus. Although vacancies have decreased as a consequence of the economic crisis, there exists an unmet demand for specialized workers, in particular cooks specialized in Asian cuisine, as well as hotel receptionists and translators with advanced knowledge of Russian. These bottlenecks are strongly related to the high influx of visitors arriving from Russia. Main reasons for Bottleneck Vacancies Poor working conditions Most bottlenecks identified in Cyprus occur due to the unwillingness of workers to take jobs in the occupation because of poor working conditions, unsociable working hours and low wages. This is the case within waste collection and cleaning activities. For bottlenecks within manufacturing occupations, recruitment difficulties can be explained by the hard working conditions and the unsociable hours, as well as the low wages, especially for bakers and pastry cooks, painters and insulation workers. Seasonal demand Seasonal labour demand and the lack of specialisation constitute the main reasons for bottlenecks in accommodation and food service occupations. The emerging bottlenecks are strongly related with the high influx of visitors and investors arriving from Russia. As a result, workers with advanced knowledge of Russian language are being in high demand e.g. hotel receptionists, as well as specialised chefs (Asian cuisine). An emerging demand of workers with knowledge of the Russian language also affects other occupations such as general office clerks and translators. Rapid technological change Technological change and the resulting mismatch between skill demand and supply is an important reason for bottlenecks within technical occupations such as carpenters and joiners, sheet-metal workers, electrical engineering technicians and machine operators. To a lesser extent, bottlenecks are related to the location of vacancies in specific areas (i.e. rural areas). Page 3

4 Initiatives to cope with Bottleneck Vacancies The majority of employers overcome the difficulty to fill specific occupations through recruitment activities in other countries. In particular, within the agriculture and livestock sectors, employers are recruiting from countries outside EU to cover the shortage. However, due to the economic crisis the regulatory framework to recruit foreign workers (outside EU) has become stricter. Initiatives aimed at mitigating bottleneck vacancies are mainly implemented by policy makers at the national level. The key actors involved in planning and implementing strategies and interventions for the mitigation of bottlenecks are the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance and the Human Resources Development Authority. Moreover, in Cyprus, there is strong tradition in cooperation and constructive dialogue between policy makers and social partners, i.e. trade unions and employers associations. Recruitment outside the EU The majority of employers overcome the difficulty to fill specific occupations through recruitment activities in other countries. In particular, within agriculture and livestock sector, employers are recruiting from countries outside the EU to cover the shortage. More specifically, employers can submit request for foreign workforce to fill the bottlenecks. However, due to the economic crisis the regulatory framework for recruiting foreign workers (outside EU) has become stricter. Initiatives for the improvement of terms and conditions offered by certain occupations to make them more attractive are not pursued by the employers, one of the reason being the economic crisis. National strategies National strategies and interventions are mainly based on active labour market policies and are implemented nation-wide to target all unemployed, but especially young ones. Among these, the Scheme for Job Placement and Training of Tertiary Education Graduates, Grant Scheme to support youth employment and Subsidised Employment Scheme for the Hotel, Food and Tourism Industry. The priority of the existing policy strategies is the mitigation of bottlenecks induced by the technological change and skill mismatch. In parallel, some initiatives have been adopted to mitigate the persistent bottlenecks especially in Agriculture and Livestock sector. Training The main programmes that are being carried out for the mitigation of bottlenecks focus on training and lifelong learning for filling vacancies such as technicians, bakers and cooks. Moreover, the Ministry of Education and Culture conducts campaigns with aim to improve the image of occupations that require technical education and qualifications with the aim to increase the number of students with technical secondary education and participants of the apprenticeship programme. The IT industry has been successfully involved in helping to create conversion courses. Examples include a product management masters degree, or an applied software masters programme, where Ericsson provided direct input into the syllabus. In terms of government subsidised training, Skillnets organises over 60 training networks, groups of companies that have similar training needs, which help to deliver training that suits employers. The Life Sciences Skillnet provides training to Medtech, Pharmaceutical, Biologics, Biopharma manufacturers. It has so far received 1.6 million of government funding over the past 6 years and will have trained over 4,000 people by end of Page 4

5 Main sources used to identify Bottleneck Vacancies in Cyprus The bottleneck vacancies have been identified mainly from interviews with key actors involved in planning and implementing strategies and interventions for the mitigation of bottlenecks. These include: the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance the Public Employment Service of Cyprus the Human Resources Development Authority Cyprus Employers & Industrialists Federation the Statistical Service of Cyprus Association of Cyprus Tourist Enterprises (ACTE). The ranking is based mainly on the answers provided by the Public Employment Service, the Cyprus Employer and Federation and the Human Resources Development Authority. Information on characteristics and underlying reasons as well as mitigation strategies were collected using the same sources. Overall, the data quality is assessed to be reasonable (medium). The answers of the Public Employment Service of Cyprus are based on quantitative data extracted from the registry of unemployed people and vacancies, on the requests for foreign workforce and on the monthly reports of the local employment offices. Furthermore, the qualitative data offered by the Cyprus Employers & Industrialists Federation are based on the direct communication with its members. The Federation encompasses more than 55 of the main professional/ sectoral associations and has more than 4,500 Member- Enterprises from the Manufacturing, Services, Commercial, Construction and Agricultural Sector, which employ more than 60% of the private sector s workforce. A strong level of agreement was recorded among the interviewees about the top bottleneck occupations. Sources Five interviews conducted with key stakeholders and experts. Page 5