Employment in Bulgaria expected to grow in Q2 of 2011
One in four Bulgarian employers says they plan to increase the number of employees in the April to June period.
The optimistic news was reported on 8 March by Manpower, a world-wide provider of workforce solutions, and comes after the Bulgarian labor market contracted by 140 000 jobs in a period of one year – Q3 2009 to Q3 2010. The unemployment rate of Bulgaria lurked around 10% during the first month of 2011.
The announcement of the positive market outlook is based on a survey of 764 employers that Manpower conducted. Hiring is expected to improve in the next few quarters, with the most job opportunities in the Manufacturing, Finance, Public & Social Services, Hotels & Restaurants and Wholesale & Retail Trade sectors.
The Public & Social Services sector, which includes educational and training organisations, public companies, healthcare institutions and others, shows the highest improvement, 28% increase from Q1 to Q2 of 2011, while reaching a net employment increase of 25%. With the coming of the summer season, the Hotel & Restaurant sector also posted good results – a net employment increase of 23%. The Finance, insurance, real estate, business services and manufacturing sectors are also expecting net employment increases of over 20%.
The survey results are significantly better than last year’s, when only 3% of Bulgarian employers said they are looking to hire, 12% of employers planned on downsizing and the rest said they would not hire or downsize.
Bulgaria’s National Employment Agency also recently reported an increase of job openings filed at labor offices.
However, experts in the field have commented on the dire state of the construction sector, where employment fell 25% from 2009 to 2010, which amounts to 22 500 jobs. The Mining and Quarrying sector also posted low employer hiring confidence.
Bulgarian employers still remain some of the most optimistic in the region. Employers in Greece reported a fourth consecutive quarter of negative hiring expectations – now the figure stands at a net employment decrease of 10%. Countries in the region reported the following net employment expectations: Czech Republic +4%, Hungary +3%, Poland +12% and Slovenia +5%.
