Hiring perspectives are expected to improve in Romania in the fourth quarter, both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year, as one in five Romanian employers intend to increase their payroll between October and December 2017.

Meanwhile, 12% of employers foresee payroll decreases while 66% do not anticipate any changes in the size of their workforces, according to the Q4 edition of the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey.

The seasonally adjusted Net Employment Outlook stands at +15%, strengthening by 1 percentage point over the previous quarter and by 3 percentage points over the final quarter of 2016.

“Forecasts are positive for yet another quarter, the 9th consecutive interval of double-digit Outlooks, but the growth we’re anticipating in Q4 across regions and industry sectors is no longer so uniform. Unlike in Q2 and Q3, when employers were reporting hiring intentions regardless of their sector of activity, negative Outlooks are now reported for two sectors: Electricity, Gas and Water Supply and Transport, Storage and Communications, and in five of the eight regions and five of ten sectors employers have tempered their hiring plans compared to last quarter,” said Igor Hahn, Country Manager, ManpowerGroup Romania.

“Such signs of increased caution are often associated with a changing regulatory environment, which may induce employers to adopt a wait-and-see approach as they calibrate their budgets and staff needs.”

Staffing levels are expected to grow in eight of ten industry sectors and all eight regions during the next three months. Hiring plans are trending stronger than in the fourth quarter of 2016 in seven out of ten industry sectors and five out of eight regions, but weaken quarter-on-quarter in five sectors and five regions.

The steepest quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year decline is reported in the Wholesale and Retail Trade sector, where the +2% Outlook weakens over the third quarter of 2017 by 21 percentage points and over the last quarter of 2016 by 23 percentage points. On the other hand, the most robust improvement, both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year is reported by employers in the Finance, Insurance, Real Estate & Business Services sector, where the +24% Net Employment Outlook strengthens by 17 percentage points over Q3/2017 and by 18 percentage points over Q4/2016.

In terms of regions, hiring perspectives are most favorable in the Bucharest & Ilfov and Northwest regions, where employers report Outlooks of +17% and +15%, respectively. The Q4/2017 Outlooks in these regions are weaker than those reported in the previous quarter by 3, and 7 percentage points, respectively. The steepest quarter-on-quarter decline, however, is reported in the Northeast region, where the +2% Net Employment Outlook weakens over Q3/2017 by 18 percentage points.

Employers in three of the four categories of organization size are optimistic, with large organizations forecasting a Net Employment Outlook of +28%, which strengthens over Q3/2017 by 2 percentage points. Employers in micro organizations are reporting a negative Net Employment Outlook of -1%.

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