Education, premise for a workforce [618720]

Education, premise for a workforce
reconversion trough a Professional Reinvention
Eugenia Jornea1,*, Lucian Lupu-Dima 1, and Eduard Edelhauser 1
1University of Petroș ani, Universității Street, No. 20, Romania
Abstract The diversity of resources, made in the 1980-1990 years from
Hunedoara County the most industrialized county of Romania. Hunedoara
is today one of the most affected by unemployment, poverty and crime.
Today Hunedoara is a county that decreased with 140,000 inhabitants in the last 20 years and 75,000 jobs lost, all of these bearing the seal of deindustrialization. An accurate professional framework, could allow the
attracting of investors. A first step should be a study of the age and socio
professional structure of the population of Hunedoara County, could permit in the next years on focusing to the education of undergraduate and graduate level workforce in the area.
1 Introduction
Professionals play a key role in meeting heal th, education, agricultural and water goals:
engineers, doctors, nurses, teach ers – the whole range of professionals who will be vital to
any approach to development. So higher education is not just for people to invest in their
own human capital and become part of the e lite, but for development to happen, there’s
going to have to be a lot of professionals trained.[8] Earnings differences are substantial
across EU-28 member states even after contro lling for price level differences and earnings
dispersion. In particular, looking at th e 2011 data, inequality in monthly wages is
substantially higher in Luxembourg, Netherland or Germany (2800-4000) than in Romania
or Bulgaria (330- 340). Inequality in income and wages has been increasing in almost all
highly industrialized countries over the last decades. This path has been particularly
reinforced in the recent crisis, although the im pact has not been the same across Europe. If
new technologies increase the productivity of hi ghly skilled workers more than for low
skilled laborers, wages of highly sk illed workers will increase faster.
While technology can boost inequality, better education of laborers can work in the
opposite direction.[4] On a local level, Hunedo ara county shows a very difficult situation,
for example people of Jiu Valley investigated in a study made by a local researcher , reflect
a continuous worsening of the quality of life until now of their way of life from material point of view, from 3.7% of those dissatisf ied before 1990 to 42% between 2000 -2009. [9].

* Corresponding author: [anonimizat]
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© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

2 Analysis of the age structure of the population of Hunedoara
County, as well as its professional social profile
The role of education and training plays a majo r role in the formation of human capital in
supporting economic competitiveness, employment levels of the workforce and not least in
personal and professional development. Hunedo ara County's population is steadily declining
for more than 20 years. Official data presented by the Department of Statistics (Table 1) show
that over the past 20 years, Hunedoara county population decreased by 13%, from 544,036 in
1995 to 469, 853 in 2016.
Table 1 Population, by age, 1 January (1995-2016), [11]
Years Total By age groups
0-14 years 15-59 years 60 years and over
1995 544036 111244 349625 83167
2000 526797 96190 339661 90946
2001 523662 92945 338698 92019
2014 477675 61935 310262 105478
2015 473635 60344 305715 107576
2016 469853 59281 301025 109547
Table 2 The average number of employees, on activities of national economy (2010-2014), [12]
Years 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Total County 108851 106870 108047 106384 106877
Agriculture, forestry and
fishing 2275 2236 2356 2302 2908
Industry 42967 41812 42755 42256 41485
Constructions 7491 8195 9775 8410 9392
Wholesale and Retail 19914 20524 19740 19559 19162
Transport and storage 4970 4949 4798 4117 4129
Hotels and restaurants 2222 2145 2071 2535 3596
Information and
communications 768 777 730 771 627
Financial and insurance
activities 1438 1301 1270 1182 1139
Real estate transactions 321 271 297 344 267
Public Administration 4444 3891 3726 3828 3974
Education 7626 7186 6783 7112 7028
Health and social assistance 8280 7861 7563 7452 7354
Entertainment activities,
cultural and recreation 563 626 707 735 907
Other activities of national
economy 769 715 630 707 693
Hunedoara adult population decreases, from 349,625 people in 1995 between 15 and 59
years, to 301,025 people in 2016. The number of children was halved, and the persons over
60 increased by 30%. According to statistics, in 1995, lived in Hunedoara County 111,244
children aged between 0 and 14 years, and in 2016 their number was halved reaching
59,281. In other words, on average, each year, Hunedoara County had 2,500 children less.
Worse is that, while the number of children an d young people decreases, the increase is
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only for people over 60 years. In statistics, the number of seniors has increased from 83,167
in 1995 to 109,547 in 2016 (an increase of nearly 30%).
On the other hand, Hunedoara County employees involved in the activities of the
national economy from 2010 to 2014 varies de pending on the fields. According to INS
statistics (Table 2) we can observe the decrease of employees from 2010 until 2014 in the field of industry with 1,482, in
the field of transport with 841, in the field of information
and communications with 141, in the field of fi nancial activities with 299, in the field of
public administration with 470, in the field of education with 598, in the field of health and social care with 926, while an increase was reco rded only in the areas such as agriculture
with 633, construction with 1,901, hotels and restaurants
with 1,374 and entertainment,
cultural and recreational with 344.
Table 3 The total number of unemployed registered in 2015 and 2016, [2]

Before 1989 Hunedoara was considered one of the most industrialized counties. Now,
the county is trying to escape from the label of “the jobless county”.
In table 3 we can see that in 2016 the une mployment rate was 5.79%, one of the largest
in Romania, yet it is gratifying that there is a decrease in the unemployment rate compared
to 2015 by 0.09%. According to employment workforce agency statistics, Hunedoara has
over 10,789 unemployed. The restructuring of the mining sector increase the unemployment since the area is one mono industrial, and all related activities are related
with mining.
Fig. 1. Unemployment rate by sex 2016 in Hunedoara County
In the figure 1, which refers to unemployment by gender at 31 December 2016, we can
see that the female unemployment rate exceeds with 6% the male unemployment in Hunedoara County.
In figure 2 we have presented the total number of registered unemployed in 2015 and
2016 years, and we can see a decrease from year to year and we can hope that this decrease
will occur in the fut
ure also, due to increase of labor supply and professional qualification
people from Hunedoara County. Ye ar sTotal No.
unemployedof which
wome nTotal No.
unemployed
pai dTotal No.
unpaid
unemployedU nemployment
rate (% )Mal e
unemployment
rate (% )Female
unemployment
rate (% )
2016 10789 5411 4170 6619 5,79 5,42 6,21
2015 11131 5535 3348 7738 5,88 5,42 6,43

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Fig. 2. The total number of unemployed registered in 2015 and 2016 in Hunedoara County
A possible solution of improving the situ ation in Hunedoara County, could be to
restructure the economy by replacing addiction to mining with the creation of a variety of
industries and business qualifications.
3 Statistical analysis of the training programs for the workforce
Among the most important factors that contribu te to a sustainable development of a society,
there are economic factors and social factor s. By economic, social and political factors, in
Hunedoara County the mining sector was held on a distinct position on national level. The
financial crisis of the recent years has had an impact on the job market. Many jobs that once
brought a stable income disappeared little by little from the market. Employers have
changed their requirements and potential employees have to adjust on the fly, so
unemployed and some employees had to refocus on the job market. [7]
The main objectives training programs for the workforce are:
/g120 Obtaining a professional qualification
/g120 Adaptation of the employee to the new job or workplace
/g120 Updating knowledge
/g120 Retraining determined by socio-economic restructuring
/g120 Acquisition of advanced knowledge, modern methods and processes needed to achieve
professional activities. [10]
Fig. 3. Classifying the population according to the last level of education of educational institutions
graduated in Hunedoara County in 2014 [13]
In terms of training of the workforce, the classification of the active population
according to the educa tional level of the last educational institution graduated in 2014 in
Hunedoara County (Figure 3) indicate a high percentage of people who have graduated high school (44%) followed by those with primary and secondary schools (37%), university

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education (14%) and technical and vocational sc hool (5%). Values are relatively similar to
those at the national level.
The high level of population that graduate high school compared to primary, secondary
and university education level, raises the quest ion of the need for post-secondary training
programs to prepare high school graduates fo r the labor market. To break the deadlock
some people had the courage to begin to make a change and have started business in the
wood processing, representing every year a quarter of the county budget, while others are
preparing to become sp ecialists in accessing European funds, the so called EU programs.
The management of the National Mine Closures Company (SNÎMVJ) organized
training programs for miners. There were over 50 people involved in training programs in
the field of expert in accessing European structural and cohesion funds and were 3 classes,
the 3 branches mining. Classes were held at Petrila and Uricani Pa roșeni. Also miners that
are dismissed can follow training programs to learn English or German or to qualify in the
profession – craft mechanic.
According to statistics dated 22/02/2017 prov ided by the Local Agency for Employment
Hunedoara, we can observe in figure 4 that most vacancies are for unskilled workers at
assembly, fitting parts with 92 positions, after which the top closest followers vendors with 85 positions, truck driver with 33 positions, ju st as many places available for textile articles
assembler, 18 jobs
are granted to unskilled worker in the textile industry, 15 jobs for
merchandisers, 12 jobs for trade workers an d only 4 jobs for security agents. [15]
Fig. 4. Top occupations availability in Hunedoara County in 2017
Retraining or reconversio n is similar to a reinvention of professional skills. The training
programs could be a solution when your last job was eliminated. Of course to recover the situation in Hunedoara County, represent a major problem, besides humane resource development it is needed a strategy for developm ent of the infrastructure of the area as a
tourist attraction and diversific ation of economic activities.
Under the economic context of Romania and especially of the difficult situation the
mining areas within Hunedoara and Gorj co unties are faced with, the University of
Petroșani represent a powerful center fo r improvement, continuous training and
reconversion of the labor force in these counties through an European Founded Project (POSDRU/5.1/S/82/59756) during 2010-2013 years, when we have focused on digital competencies professional training that shall be absolutely necessary in terms of the
information society that EU wants to impl ement. [6] The Project's objective was the
increasing the employment rate of the labor fo rce in mono-industrial areas in mining from
the Jiu Valley and Oltenia, by attracting young unemployed and long term unemployed, on
the labor market, by developing modern and innovative methods for electronic e-learning
type of training. [17].

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4 Trends in new occupations and professions that might be
required in the labor market of Hunedoara County
Hunedoara County is identified as a single industries or mono industrial county. Highly
dependent population of the mining industry, th is territory was iden tified as a fragile area
characterized by industrial decline. Performing an analysis of all asp ects of the current
situation and economic transformations of re cent years in Hunedoara County, we can
deduced that this county still has chances of recovery and becoming a county with a
performance and diversified economy, competiti ve regionally and why not nationwide. [7]
Hunedoara County must take a series of actions for economic diversification, and
support the training in the fields of productio n systems capable of engaging a large
percentage of the workforce. A general objectiv e for the deadlock, as the restructuring of
the economy is replacing its dependence on mini ng as a result of the creation of a variety of
industries and business qualifications. In this regard, metallurgy and textiles are already
directions viable , also automotive and tourism and IT sector shows high growth potential,
while being regional areas of interest. Another means of achieving the overall objective is
to encourage private sector development, incl uding actions such as creating a favorable
business environment by focusing on SMEs. According to the Post-privatized Foundation
Report on SME sector in Romania in 2013, specified that the share of SMEs of all registered companies is 99.7% and the number of employees of SMEs in Romania is 65.9
% of total employment in enterprises, we can say that the future of graduate job may be largely an SME. [3]
Hunedoara County loses chance for inve stments because it is not prepared
infrastructural. Business support infrastructure is unevenly distributed in the county and its
absence is highlighted especially in areas with reconversion problems. It is necessary to
focus attention on the creation and investments in business incubators and the establishment
of business parks. At the moment, there are re gistered in Hunedoara County 3 Industrial
Parks – Hunedoara Industrial Park, Business Incubator Simeria and Călan Industrial Park
(including business incubator) offering new opportunities to attract and retain investors in
the county.
Another objective of the development strate gy of Hunedoara County would support the
development of tourism as a new sector of ec onomic activity. Hunedoara County is one of
the regions in Romania with most tourist spots, but unfortunately this area is not exploited.
There is a lack of an unified management of protected areas that allow the practice of
tourism in these areas, lack management knowledge, law and ignorance of foreign languages by those involved in networks of rural tourism so
alpine areas are used to a
minimum potential, lack of information and tour ist maps, lack of access roads to tourist
attractions, lacking specialized human resour ces in the field, lack of development
organizations tourism. Developing a well thought out and implemented management would
solve these problems, but of course with raising capital.
To develop a management, a very important current and future has the IT field. The
European Commission launched a coalition for sk ills and jobs in the digital sector for
career development and improving daily life.
The stated purpose is to redu ce the existing digital skills shortages at all levels, from
highly specialized IT to those who need all citizens to live, work and participate in the
digital economy and society. The lack of digital skills are an obstacle to innovation and
growth. In Europe, in all sectors remain vacant jobs because of the number of people who
cannot use a computer. European Commission stated that 2020 to 750,000 jobs in IT will
not be occupied because of this. A situatio n which is recorded in the context of an
unemployment rate of nearly 20 percent among young Europeans aged between 15 and 24
years. More generally, almost 45 percent of Europeans have only basic digital skills. The
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goal is that by 2020 national coalitions exist in all Member States because until the same
year, 2020, one million young people are unemployed to undertake training to fill the vacancies in the digital sector.
It would also be funded retraining the workforce with practical measures to support
SMEs face particular challenges in terms of attracting and retaining talent in the digital
domain. The plan is a modernization of education, to give all students and teachers the opportunity to use digital tools and materials in teaching and learning. [16]
5 Conclusion
Hunedoara County is now branded as a single industries county and having an industrial
decline in recent years, so could be called a fragile area. In this paper based on economic,
social and educational information, we can co nclude that the recovery of Hunedoara
County could be possible by developing an d implementing development strategies, which
should be on medium and long term.
The transition to a sustained economy must support, on the one hand, on retraining the
workforce, and on the other hand, on attractin g new investment. Therefore, it is necessary
that county and local authorities work togeth er to develop a joint plan of economic
reorientation. Hunedoara County lo ses chance for investments because it is not prepared
infrastructural. Business support infrastructure is unevenly distributed in the county and its
absence is highlighted especially in areas with reconversion problems. It is necessary to
draw attention to investment and on training the population Hunedoara on various fields in
accordance with market demand jobs. T
he strengths of Hunedoara county, which would help change the economic course
would draw attention to the development of tourism as a new sector of economic activity,
focusing investments on business incubato rs and business parks , encouraging private
sector-development of SMEs, and on course to pay particular attention to IT, which is one
current and future opportunity.
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