The Social Service Workforce Census

In 2021, UNICEF, in partnership with the National College of Social Workers in Romania (RNCSW) and four leading universities - University of Bucharest, West University, Babeș-Bolyai University, and Alexandru Ioan Cuza University - have signed a memorandum of understanding. The objective of this agreement was to develop and promote a public policy framework that would call for better trained, better distributed, and better planned human resources in the social services area. Following this agreement, in 2022, for the first time in the country, a social service workforce census was conducted. Published in 2023, this product compiles data on over 20,000 workers from various fields, including social work, health, or education. 

With the primary goal of providing a complete picture of the social service workforce in the country, the Social Service Workforce Census is the outcome of a programmatic document that was proposed by UNICEF and endorsed by the Government of Romania in 2018 at the International Conference on Strengthening the Social Service Workforce. 

To achieve this goal, the study focuses, as described below, on the workforce employed in social work (including both accredited and not-accredited social services providers), as well as in related fields that have a social impact (e.g. education, health, justice, police, military, religion etc.), from various sectors - public sector, private non-profit sector (NGOs), private-for-profit sector (private companies) and public-private partnerships.  

The study, designed as a questionnaire-based sociological survey, was conducted by Metromedia Transilvania between 1 April and 15 October 2022 and resulted in a dataset of more than 20,000 entries (people employed in social services across the country). The majority of the institutions and organizations contacted for this study were selected from administrative records (Ministry of Labor, Trade Register, etc.); unlicensed services and non-accredited service providers were located employing the snowball technique.

The results of this piece of research - a unique exercise in the country and region - serve as evidence for strategic decisions and support the development or refining of policies for planning, distributing, attracting, recruiting, and retaining the essential social service workforce, in accordance with the needs of the most vulnerable children and their families. The study highlights, among others:

• low coverage of rural areas: although almost half of Romania’s population lives in rural areas, only a third of the participants to the study work in villages and communes;
• a worrying trend of an ageing social service workforce, with 56% of the participants to the study being over 46 years old;
• a feminisation of the social service workforce, given the higher share of women (87%) among social service employees; 
• a stronger focus on human capital development through higher educational attainment among younger social service professionals, which also translates into higher employee expectations with regards to pay levels and professional development opportunities;
• a decrease in the share of those who choose to further their education as age increases, which could indicate employee demotivation over time; 
• a disproportional distribution of the social services provision responsibilities among sectors, with the public sector being the main provider of welfare;
• a high share of open-ended employment contracts (more than 84% of survey participants have open-ended employment contracts) and an average job tenure of approximately 12 years.

The demand for skilled workers across social services is influenced not only by demographic changes and economic factors but also by workforce supply, structure, and profile. Romania, like many other European countries, faces challenges in retaining and recruiting enough qualified workers in the area of social services. Therefore, it is essential to develop a consistent recruitment and retention strategy that tackles pay and working conditions, career progression opportunities, professional development, and reasonable workload. The Social Service Workforce Census makes some important recommendations; establishing incentivizing mechanisms with a focus on rural, disadvantaged communities, higher wages and increased number of entry-level positions, continuous education and training are only some of these.  

If you're interested in learning more about the Social Service Workforce Census, reach out to us at:  [email protected] or [email protected].