More than one in five employers in Romania intend to increase their workforce in the coming three months, according to ManpowerGroup’s latest quarterly survey of 625 Romanian employers. Only 5 percent intend to decrease their workforce in the June – September 2014 interval, while another 69 percent foresee no change in their payrolls, the company announced.

”This is the eighth quarter of cautious, but steady, optimism,” says Valentin Petrof, ManpowerGroup Romania’s Country Manager. “On the whole, employers have once again begun to add to their payrolls, fueled partially by recent growth in consumption. However, the survey indicates that overall employer confidence is still weaker than pre-recession.” He added: “Employers will most likely continue to aim for lean, agile organizations, but we have encouraging signals that they are slowly overcoming their reluctance to make workforce changes, and considering longer-term needs and solutions.”

Job seekers can expect hiring opportunities in nine of the 10 industry sectors, and all eight regions. The strongest sector hiring plans are reported by employers in Manufacturing, with an Outlook of +19 percent, a 5 percentage point decrease over last quarter, but a 3 percentage point improvement over the third quarter of 2013.

According to Manpower, opportunities will increase in the finance, insurance, real estate and business services sector, where the +17 percent net employment outlook is improving both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year by 4 and 10 percentage points respectively.

However, prospects are still limited for job seekers in the energy, gas & water supply industry sectosr, where employers report a negative Outlook of -1 percent, a 4 percentage point decline over Q2.

The most significant improvement over last quarter is reported in the transport, storage and communication sector.

“The moderate growth in job opportunities can’t be interpreted as a definite trend, because signals across regions and industries are too mixed to form a clear picture,” says Valentin Petrof. “There are indicators of renewed optimism, but job seekers should not expect enthusiastic hiring: employers will continue to balance needs and cost. We see employers being more selective and focusing on attracting the right talents, and less inclined to hire based on volume.”

editor@romania-insider.com