Active harmonization of higher education bachelor study programme in the area of trade, tourism and services with the labor market dynamics

The main purpose of our paper is to highlight the interplay between the demands of the workforce market from Hunedoara County and the competences of graduates from The Economy of Trade, Tourism and Services (ETTS) Bachelor study programme. As far as the methodology of the paper is concerned, we used a qualitative description approach that comprises manifold aspects: the statistical analysis of trade and tourism branches from the V West Region in correlation with the labor market; job opportunities analysis before and after the pandemic; cognitive and behavioral competences achieved by graduates from the ETTS programmeme in order to become well trained specialists in their area of interest. The results of our investigations led us to the following conclusions: the pandemic brought about continuous oscillations in the trade and tourism labor markets in such a way that, having skills in both fields, graduates from the ETTS programmeme could get compensation of the declining trend of available jobs in the hospitality industry by the increase of vacant jobs within the the online commerce; on the other hand, Hunedoara Conty – an area with various types of tourism – mountain, historical, religious tourism etc. – has witnessed an upsurge in the number of tourists in spite of the pandemic.