The fourth quarter hiring plans of the Romanian employers are the most optimistic in Europe, on par with Slovenia, and among the top five most optimistic globally, according to a recent ManpowerGroup survey.

The net employment outlook for Q4 of 2018 is up 19%, the strongest reported in Romania since the fourth quarter of 2008, the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey for the October – December 2018 interval found.

Of the 627 Romanian employers interviewed for the Q4/2018 edition of the survey, 24% report that they intend to increase their payrolls, while 9% are considering a decrease in the number of employees.

Employers in the South regions are the country’s most optimistic, reporting a net employment outlook of +28%, the strongest in more than 10 years. The most significant year-on-year improvement is reported by employers in the South-West region, where the +24% net employment outlook, the strongest since Q2/2008, is 25 percentage points stronger than in Q4/2017. Employers in the North-East region report a year-on-year improvement of 24 percentage points, with a net employment outlook of +23%, the strongest outlook for the region in the history of the Romanian survey. The outlook also stands at +23% in the South-East region, where employer optimism is at its highest since Q3/2008.

Perspectives in the Bucharest & Ilfov region are the least bright in the country, with employers reporting a +13% outlook, which declines over both Q3/2018 and Q4/2017 by 2, respectively 4 percentage points. A similar quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year decline is reported in the West region, where the Outlook for Q4/2018 stands at 17%.

At the same time, workforce gains are forecast in all of the ten industry sectors analyzed. Most notably in the construction sector, the +36% net employment outlook is the strongest since Q2/2008. Employers in the manufacturing sector also expect payroll increases, with a net employment outlook of +29%, stable compared to the previous quarter and declining over Q4/2017 by 3 percentage points.

The weakest employment perspectives are reported in the mining and quarrying sector, where the +4% net employment outlook indicates a sluggish hiring environment that is nevertheless improved both over Q3/2018, by 13 percentage points, the survey found.

When it comes to company size, large employers are slightly less enthusiastic than in Q3/2018 and Q4/2017, reporting a +26% net employment outlook that is 1 percentage point weaker quarter-on-quarter and 2 percentage points weaker year-on-year.

Employers in medium organizations are at their most optimistic in the past ten years. The +26% net employment outlook improves by 16 percentage points over last year and is 7 percentage points stronger than in Q3/2018. Employees in micro-organizations are the least enthusiastic, reporting a net employment outlook of +4%.

The net employment outlook is derived by taking the percentage of employers anticipating an increase in hiring activity and subtracting from it the percentage of employers expecting to see a decrease.

Survey: Over a quarter of Romanian employers plan to hire in Q3

editor@romania-insider.com