Romanian Employers See Hiring Frozen For Q4 2010 – Survey

Employers in Romania forecast a balanced activity on the local labor market for the last quarter of the year but are less pessimistic than in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to a survey by human resources company Manpower.
The net employment outlook, a figure derived by taking the percentage of employers anticipating total employment to increase and subtracting from this the percentage expecting to see a decrease in employment, is seen at an absolute value of 0%, which is a decrease of two percentage points compared to the third quarter and an 11-percentage point improvement from the last quarter of 2009.

The survey shows 21% of managers in Romania expect employment to increase, another 21% expect it to decrease and 56% forecast no change in hiring for the last quarter of the year.

In Romania, the survey polled 751 employers.

"This environment is quite uncertain for people seeking jobs. It is obvious that employers are very cautious in planning future hiring," said Camelia Stanculescu, general manager of Manpower Romania. She added that, however, employers see an improvement in hiring and the revival of their business, compared to last year's sentiment.

"We are at an incipient state in the revival of the labor market and, although we still have a long way to go, there are signals that the trend is positive," Stanculescu said.

Positive employment estimations were registered in western Romania (+12%) and the center, southwestern and southern regions, with +3%. Negative employment estimations were registered in the northwest (-14%), southeast (-7%) and northeast (-5%), the survey shows.

By sectors of activity, staff numbers are seen increasing in the processing industry, followed by finance, insurance and real estate services. Employment opportunities are also forecast for the utilities sectors.

The most pessimistic employment outlook by sectors of activity is in public administration and social services, as well as constructions, transports, storage and communications.

At an international level, employers in 28 out of 36 countries and areas surveyed expect increases in hiring, at different paces, for the last quarter of the year.

Manpower Romania is specialized in recruiting qualified people for permanent or temporary jobs, assessing and selecting staff, and offers human resources consultancy. The company has nine agencies in Bucharest, Timisoara, Brasov, Cluj-Napoca, Ploiesti and Craiova.