‘Romania and Bulgaria suffer from the same problem: the labor market crisis, the phenomenon is more palpable in the border area, and in Romania and Bulgaria there are more areas of economic activity where employers cannot find workers. This is a serious impediment to the development of new business: the demographic decline, external and internal labor migration, early school leaving and the existence of a large number of young people who neither work nor want to find a job. The Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Navigation and Agriculture - Constanta (CCINA) will continue to work with the Industrial Association - Veliko Tarnovo and Bulgarian Industrial Association to identify people, with a highlight on the unemployed who can be hired.’

This is what Jon Dunut Yuganaroy, CEO of CCINA, said at a press conference held in Constanta on the occasion of the completion of the project ‘Building a sustainable model and partner network to support employment and labour mobility in the cross border area Bulgaria-Romania’.

The press conference was also attended by Mitko Gospodinov - Executive Director of the Industrial Association - Veliko Tarnovo and Project Manager, Zhechko Dimitrov - Program Director of the Bulgarian Industrial Association, Tomcho Tomov - Head of the National Center for Competence Assessment at BIA, and Louisa Kubulu - Coordinator project by CCINA. They presented the project and the achieved results, incl. the online platform for posting job vacancies. In addition, the platform includes legal and economic information for employers and jobseekers on residence and job search conditions in another EU country, labor legislation, safe and healthy working conditions, recommendations and advice for jobseekers or internships, recommendations and advice on the establishment in Bulgaria or Romania of workers with their families, as well as special recommendations to employers.

20 experts (10 in each country) have developed competence catalogs for professions with mobility potential in economic sectors such as agriculture, forestry and fishing, manufacturing, construction, transport and storage, accommodation and food.

40 competence profiles have been developed that include a description of the profession, the required level of education, knowledge and skills. For jobseekers, online skills assessment tools have been developed, six on-line specialized courses and two foreign language courses (Bulgarian and Romanian) for beginners.

Trainings for specialists in human resources departments of enterprises were also organized. Their training was aimed at improving the skills of selecting the workforce on the other side of the border.

240 managers and specialists from 120 enterprises with potential for labor mobility, as well as 280 unemployed and jobseekers in the target regions were directly consulted and assisted in working with JobMobility.info's functionalities and in the application of selection tools.

The project is implemented over a period of 24 months - from April 2017 to April 2019, and is funded by the Interreg V - A Romania - Bulgaria Program.