Companies in Romania continued to hire in 2020, despite the sudden changes brought by the COVID-19 pandemic on the labor market, with effects felt by both employers and candidates. Although sectors and companies were severely affected by the epidemiological crisis, government support measures aimed at maintaining employment and the industries that experienced significant growth in 2020 managed to offset the negative impact in the affected areas, according to local recruitment platform BestJobs.

"Thus, especially in the last half of 2020, there was a 5% year-on-year increase in the number of jobs, as more and more employers looked to hire staff, especially in the categories of white-collar (office employees) and blue-collar (workers)," BestJobs said. 

Of the total active jobs in 2020, more than half (52%) were in the white-collar category, 33% were blue-collar jobs, while 15% were jobs for management and team coordination positions.

Work-from-home jobs were the star of 2020, with over 600,000 searches from candidates, and BestJobs estimates that in 2021 there will be a 60% increase for remote white-collar jobs. 

The largest employers in 2020 were companies operating in areas such as retail, medical & pharma, IT & C, financial consultancy, construction, and BPO. Together, the six domains were responsible for more than 60% of the jobs for which employers posted ads on the BestJobs platform between January and December 2020.

"Although the situation is still uncertain, the main trend in the 2021 labor market will remain digitization and automation, both in the recruitment process and in the activity of employees. In addition to the specializations that will be most needed in the market, employers say that skills such as solving complex situations, adaptability, the ability to make decisions quickly, or digital skills will count more than ever in the hiring decision," BestJobs also said. 

In terms of learning and development, in 2021, most companies are proposing important changes in employee skills development, retraining, and changing the way they measure their employees' productivity.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

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