DOBRI MITREV: OUR MAIN FOCUS IS IMPROVING THE LEVEL OF DIGITAL SKILLS

• 2 studies of international experience and good practices in the development of digital skills and social partnership in the field of digital transformation;
• 16 sectoral analyzes of the state and needs for the development of the digital skills of the workforce;
• 16 sectoral methodologies and programs for informal learning and 16 sectoral qualification frameworks for the development of digital skills;
• 87 standards (created and put into practice) for digital competence of key positions in enterprises;
• An e-platform with tools to assess specific digital skills, as well as 560 employed persons tested and assessed for their current digital skills;
• An e-learning platform containing 36 e-courses in the field of profession-specific and job-specific digital skills, as well as 590 employees who have undergone test training.

These are part of the results of the "Ready for Digital Transformation" project implemented within 19 months (01/12/2021 - 30/06/2023), implemented by the Bulgarian Industrials Association (BIA), in partnership with the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) and the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy (MLSP), and financed by OP "Development of Human Resources. The aim of the project was to create a specific environment, models and tools for increasing the specific digital skills of the workforce in 16 economic activities/sub-activities under the CED 2008. It covered 104 enterprises and over 800 employees from the 16 sectors.

The results of the project were presented at a press conference today (June 27, 2023), with the participation of: Dobri Mitrev – president of BIA, Nataliya Efremova - Deputy Director General of the Main Directorate "European Funds, International Programs and Projects" in MLSP and National Coordinator of the European Year of Skills, Tomcho Tomov - Head of the National Competence Assessment Center at BIA, Tsvetelina Peneva - Financial Director of Papas Olio, Gabriela Chiflichka - General Secretary of Aplia Bulgaria - Association of Household Appliance Manufacturers electrical appliances in Bulgaria, Aglika Adamova - head of "Human Resources" in the largest chain of restaurants in Bulgaria - "Happy". The moderator of the event was Svetlana Doncheva - project manager and director of the Project Management Center at BIA.

"During these difficult but very inspiring 19 months, together with our partners from CITUB, MLSP, more than ten branch organizations and over 100 enterprises, we managed to implement activities that we believe will have a strong impact on labor market processes. The main focus of our work is improving the level of digital skills among those employed in 16 economic sectors of the Bulgarian economy. The project was created in response to the increasingly serious challenges faced by Bulgarian companies on their path to digital transformation," said Dobri Mitrev, President of the Board of BIA, at the opening of the press conference.

According to him, the implementation of digital technologies changes not only production and business processes, but also workplaces. "In the next five years, it is expected that 60% of professions will be automated, which will reflect directly on employment and the need for people exercising these professions to acquire new digital skills or to be retrained and directed to other professions. In order for this to happen, all participants in the labor market - public institutions, social partners, enterprises and workers - must unite energy and resources in a common action plan. Only in this way will we avoid the scenario predicted by many analysts, in which digitization and automation will lead to the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs and a sharp increase in unemployment. Of course, we believe that this will not happen, because history has proven that every industrial revolution has led to an increase in jobs, not the other way around. What is different today is that everything is happening much faster and requires quick, timely, flexible measures to cover all affected and especially vulnerable groups that are in danger of permanently falling out of the labor market," said the president of BIA.

"According to the research carried out within the project, 60% of the surveyed enterprises are at a low and moderately low level of digitization. There are significant differences according to the size, ownership, technological maturity and regional location of the enterprises. Only 16% of enterprises have long-term strategies and resourced programs for digital transformation. 84% of respondents indicated that their businesses currently have other pressing priorities. The main difficulties in digitization are related to financing, human capital, technological maturity, lack of interest of enterprises and low motivation of personnel. More attention is paid to technology, but not to people. Only 15% of the enterprises study and evaluate the impact of new technologies on attitudes, skills, working conditions and labor relations", Tomcho Tomov - head of the NCAC (BIA) told the participants of the press conference.

He presented the electronic tools developed within the project for the assessment of digital skills and competencies. One tool is for self-assessment (in accordance with the standard for the relevant key position or profession), and the second tool is for the assessment of digital competences through two questionnaires: 1. Test for the assessment of basic digital competences (closed questions with three answer options each) and 2. Questionnaire to assess the level of mastery of specific digital competencies (selecting from a list of 20 specific competencies). Proficiency levels are assessed on a basic-intermediate-advanced-high professional scale, and upon completion of testing, the system generates an assessment/self-assessment results report, graphically representing the level of digital competence possessed.

Within the project, 560 employed persons went through an assessment/self-assessment of digital skills and competences. The results of the testing show that one in three has a mediocre level of basic skills related to the use of widely applicable software products, such as Windows, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, working with e-mail Outlook, working on the Internet, working with digital communication platforms. Around 70% of key job incumbents do not meet the digital competency standards required for their position. 22% of the people surveyed (almost every fourth) possess the lowest, basic level of digital competence. This makes them unstable and vulnerable to technological change, puts them in "digital isolation" and threatens them with falling out of the labor market. The highest deficits in digital skills were found in the areas (according to EP DigComp): "Creation of digital content", "Security", "Problem solving", "Communication and cooperation".