More than two thirds (70%) of employers in Romania anticipate no changes in the size of their payrolls in the first quarter (Q1) of 2019, the largest percentage in over two years, and this suggests the labor market is more prudent than it has been in recent quarters, according to the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey for the January-March 2019 interval.

About 20% of Romanian employers anticipate adding to their payrolls in the first quarter of 2019, while 9% anticipate decreases in the size of their workforce, the same survey showed. The Net Employment Outlook stands at a positive +15%, trending slightly softer than in both Q4/2018 (by 2 percentage points) and Q1/2018 (by 1 percentage point).

A high percentage of employers (82%) who do not intend any changes to their workforce in Q1 2019 is reported in industry sectors such as Agriculture, Hunting, Forestry and Fishing, and Mining and Quarrying.

However, the hiring perspectives continue to be favorable in all but one of the ten sectors analyzed, according to ManpowerGroup. For example, employers in Manufacturing are the most optimistic and report a Net Employment Outlook of +26% while those in the Finance, Insurance, Real Estate & Business Services sectors are also optimistic, reporting a +23% Net Employment Outlook. Solid employment perspectives are also reported in the Wholesale and Retail Trade sector, where the Outlook for Q1/2019 stands at +20%, Transport, Storage and Communication, with an Outlook of +19%, and Construction, with an Outlook of +18%. The only negative Outlook of -11% is reported in the Electricity, Gas and Water Supply sector.

The same survey said that employers in all eight regions anticipate payroll gains in the first three months of 2019, with employers in the South and Bucharest & Ilfov regions being the most optimistic – Net Employment Outlooks of +20%. Meanwhile, the employers in the South-East region report the least optimistic regional Outlook of +9%.

The same data showed that organizations of all sizes plan to add to their payrolls in January-March 2019, with the strongest labor market being expected by employers in the Large category, who report an Outlook of +24%. Meanwhile, the most cautious hiring plans are reflected in the Outlook of +4% reported by employers in micro-organizations.

Started in 1962, the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey now polls over 60,000 employers in 44 countries and territories to measure their intentions to increase or decrease the number of employees in their workforce during the next quarter. In Romania, the Q1/2019 survey was conducted by InfoCorp Ltd. between October 17 and October 30, 2018 on a representative sample of 625 employers.

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Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com

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