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Analysis

Romania and Poland head global table for employment prospects

“There has been a decided shift in employer sentiment in this quarter’s survey, with employers in many countries, including the U.S., pulling back their hiring plans in a bigger way than we have seen in several years,” said Jeffrey A. Joerres, Chairman & CEO of Manpower Inc. “The important change we are seeing is not about reductions in workforces, like we would typically expect in a recessionary period, but rather an increase in the percentages of employers who are planning to put a hold on hiring and forge ahead with the people they already have. This is definitely a ‘wait and see’ approach as they evaluate where their economies are headed, rather than a panic attack at this point,” he added.
The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, the most extensive, forward-looking employment survey in the world with interviews of more than 55,000 employers per quarter, unveiled results for five new countries this quarter — Czech Republic, Greece, Guatemala, Poland and Romania — bringing the total number of countries and territories in the survey program to 32. Of these new countries, Polish and Romanian employers reported the most optimistic hiring intentions for the second quarter of 2008. “The addition of these dynamic, emerging markets to our survey will provide valuable insight into the hiring plans of employers in these countries and how they compare with trends elsewhere in the world,” said Joerres.
The most favorable second quarter hiring plans globally were reported by employers in Singapore, India, Peru, Romania, Costa Rica, Argentina, Poland, Hong Kong, Australia, Greece and South Africa, with those in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia reporting their most optimistic hiring plans since the survey began there. Conversely, employers in Spain and Italy report the weakest job prospects in the next three months.
Of the 17 countries surveyed in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region employers in Romania, Poland, Greece, S. Africa and Norway are most optimistic about adding to their workforces. In contrast, hiring optimism among Irish and Spanish employers fell considerably from one year ago, with the Outlook in Spain being the weakest in the region.
“The positive hiring prospects reported in the newly surveyed countries of Romania, Poland and Greece reflect employer demand for talent in markets where foreign direct investment and labor migration are increasing the competition for available talent,” said Joerres.