Bulgarian Employers Report Favourable Hiring Plans for Q3 2014 Once Again

• Nearly one in five Bulgarian employers plan to add to their payrolls in the third quarter of 2014, with positive hiring plans reported in all 10 industry sectors and all five regions. The Net Employment Outlook in Bulgaria for the period July-September stands at +14%. 

• The Net Employment Outlook remains stable at +14 percentage points. The Outlook stays unchanged on a year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter basis.
•  Forecasts show that the most optimistic hiring plans are expected in the sector of Hotels & Restaurants. The Net Employment Outlook for Q3 stands at +32%. Compared to the previous quarter (+33%), the forecast for the sector remains stable. Employers in the sector of Construction expect a sharp hiring increase, where the Net Employment Outlook for Q2 2014 was +1%, while it now stands at +15% for the July-September period.
• The forecast is similarly upbeat in the Finance, Insurance,Real Estate & Business Services (+17%),the Wholesale & Retail (+16%) and the Agriculture, Hunting, Forestry & Fishing(+15%) industry sectors. Employers in the sector of Electricity, Gas and Water Supply (+2%) and Mining & Quarrying (+5%) report the most modest hiring intentions.
• Employers in the region of Rousse report the strongest hiring plans for the third quarter of 2014. The Net Employment Outlook here stands at +21%, followed by Varna (+18%), Plovdiv (+15%), Burgas (+11%) and Sofia (+11%).

Sofia, 10 June, 2014 – Bulgarian employers expect the hiring pace to remain steady in the third quarter of 2014, with a Net Employment Outlook of +14%, according to Manpower’s latest Employment Outlook Survey. Results remain unchangedon a quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year basis. Of the 753 employers that took part in the survey, 19% state that they intend to hire new employees from July to September, while only 5% intend to decrease theirpayrolls. Employers in the region of Rousse report the strongest regional hiring plans for Q3 2014, as well as the region’s most optimistic forecast since the survey started at the beginning of 2011. Meanwhile, Restaurants & Hotel employers report the strongest industry sector hiring plans.

Employers in all five Bulgarian regions surveyed report positive hiring plans

In all five Bulgarian regions, the employers taking part in the survey report positive hiring intentions for the third quarter of 2014. The most optimistic hiring plans are reported by employers in the region of Rousse, where the Net Employment Outlook stands at +21%. Employers in Varna report a Net Employment Outlook of +18% for the third quarter of 2014. Employers in the regions of Burgas and Sofia report identical results, with Net Employment Outlooks of +11%.

“The forecastsareattributable to several projects that are about to start in these regions,” says Nadia Vassileva, Managing Director of Manpower Bulgaria, Serbia and Croatia. “In Rouse, for example, there are a number of foreign firms that are ramping up production of automobile parts—including Witte Automotive which plans to double their current workforce. And in the Varna region, projects worth65 million leva are about to be launched. They will cover the districts of Varna, Dobrich, Shumen and Targovishte,and are expected to create new job opportunities. For example,new vacancies will be opened by the production facilityfor hot-dip galvanisationof traffic barrier systems in the town of Kaspichan,”added Nadia Vassileva.

More than 65 million leva will be invested underthe government’s Public Investment Program inNorth-Eastern Bulgaria this year. It covers the districts of Varna, Dobrich, Shumen and Targovishte.

“There are other promising signs in the Burgas region,” added Nadia Vassileva. “Due to the start of the construction of the new industrial park by the city, Thermal Engineering Ltd is expected to open new vacancies. In addition, a new oil processing complex will be launched at the Burgas refinery. The total investment for the first stage of the project, construction of the main installation,along with supporting installations, is expected to reach $1.5 billion. Approximately3,000 people are expected to be engaged in the construction of the project.”

Nadia Vassileva also expected the automobile cable systems factory of the German company Nexans in Plevenwould also open many newjobs. The plant is expected to begin production by the end of this year.

“Optimistically considered, 200,000 new vacancies will be opened in the next five yearsin the Plovdiv region alone. This is attributed mainly to globally oriented foreign companies, including those developing in the sector of Tourism. The town may well be called an industrial centre – there is an increase in the number of people engaged in the processing industry, which provides 51% of the goods produced in the region,” concluded Nadia Vassileva.

Source: Manpower

Comparative Net Employment Outlook by Sector

Employers from all 10 sectors surveyed report positive hiring plans for the third quarter of 2014. The strongest hiring intentions are reported in the Restaurants & Hotels sector, with a Net Employment Outlook of +32%, followed by Finance, Insurance, Real Estate & Business Services (+17%) and Wholesale & Retail (+16%).

Employers from the sector of Agriculture, Hunting, Forestry & Fishing report the next most optimistic hiring intentions (+15%), followed by Construction (+15%) and the Public & Social Sector (+13%). Employers from the sector of Transport, Storage and Communication report a Net Employment Outlook of +12%, followed by Mining & Quarrying (+5%) and Electricity, Gas and Water Supply (+2%).

“The forecast in the sector of Restaurants & Hotels is due to the expected start of the summer holiday season, especially in the regions of Varna and Burgas. Hotel owners at the Bulgarian seaside urgently need at least 100,000 qualified workers for the next three months. Currently young school graduates from the so-called Social Homes are trained for lifeguards, financed by the Red Cross. 1,400 university students will be hired at hotels and restaurants this summer and their salaries will be paid by a European programme for undergraduateinternships and practical training,” says Nadia Vassileva.

“The positive and promising outlook in the sector of Finance, Insurance, Real Estate & Business Services is due to employers’demand for candidates in the sphere of finance and accounting. About 52,000 new vacancies have been openedin the first four months of the year. There is also some fresh movement in the sector of Wholesale & Retail. The new Human Resources Development Operational Programme will change itsrules for training courses. So far, everyonecould choose the type of additional qualification they would like to acquire, while now all courses will target only professions for which there is actual demand,” commented Nadia Vassileva.

The highest percentage of expected new placements is attributed to big companies – 19%, while at micro- and mid-sized companies, the net increase forecasts stand at 8% and 13%, respectively. 21% ofsmall companies intend to hire new employees, which is an increase by 8 percentage pointscompared to the previous quarter.

Source: Manpower

Survey Question

All employers participating in the survey worldwide are asked the same question, “How do you anticipate total employment at your location to change in the three months to the end of September 2014 as compared to the current quarter?”

About ManpowerGroup

ManpowerGroup™ (NYSE: MAN) has been the world’s workforce expert, creating innovative workforce solutions, for more than 65 years. As workforce experts, we connect more than 600,000 men and women to meaningful work across a wide range of skills and industries every day. Through our ManpowerGroup family of brands — Manpower®, Experis™, Right Management ® and ManpowerGroup™ Solutions— we help more than 400,000 clients in 80 countries and territories address their critical talent needs, providing comprehensive solutions to resource, manage and develop talent. In 2014, ManpowerGroup was named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for the fourth consecutive year and one of Fortune’s Most Admired Companies, confirming our position as the most trusted and admired brand in the industry. See how ManpowerGroup makes powering the world of work humanly possible: www.manpowergroup.com.

About Manpower Bulgaria  

Manpower is the global leader in contingent and permanent recruitment workforce solutions. It is part of ManpowerGroup, the world leader in innovative workforce solutions, which creates and delivers high-impact solutions that enable clients to achieve their business goals and enhance their competitiveness. With branches in Sofia, Plovdiv, Bourgas and Varna, Manpower has provided organizations in Bulgaria with a continuum of staffing solutions from the incidental to the strategic for nine years now, working with businesses from all industry sectors to help them win. In the Human Age, where talent has replaced access to capital as the key competitive differentiator, Manpower Bulgaria leverages its trusted brand to develop a deep talent pool, providing clients with access to the people they need, fast. Manpower Bulgaria creates powerful connections between organizations and the talent they need to enhance their competitiveness and unleash their workforce potential. By creating these powerful connections, we help everybody achieve more than they imagined, and power the world of work.

www.manpower.bg

For further information and to arrange an interview, please contact:
Nina Nedelcheva, nina.nedelcheva@ndg-communications.eu, +359 887 378 328