Latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey Shows: Bulgarian Employers Continue to Report Cautiously Optimistic Hiring Plans for the Second Quarter of 2015

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  • 18% of Bulgarian employers plan to increase their staff in the second quarter of 2015, and the seasonally adjusted Employment Outlook stands at +9%, according to the result of Manpower’s Employment Outlook Survey for the second quarter of 2015. Employers from eight of ten sectors plan to add new staff totheir workforce.
  • The latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey for the second quarter of 2015 is relatively stable when compared to both the first quarter of 2015 and year-over-year.
  • Employers fromboth the Finance, Insurance, Real Estate & Business Servicessector and the Transport, Storage & Communications sector report the strongest results for the second quarter, with Outlooks of +15%. Similarly favourable Outlooks are reported by employers in the Manufacturing sector,with +13%, and in Construction, with +12%.
  • Employers from Mining & Quarrying and Electricity, Gas & Water Supply report negative Outlooksof -2% and -4% respectively.
  • Employers from all regions plan to hire new staff. Most optimistic are employers from the Plovdiv region,with an Outlook of +12%, followed by those in Varna with +11%,while employers in both Rouse and Sofia report+10%. Employers in Bourgas report resultof +1%, which shows a decrease in their plans both compared to the first quarter of this year and year-over-year.
  • Employers from all sizes of companies – micro, small, medium and large –sharepositive plans to hire. Most optimistic, however, are those from large companies, with an Outlook of +16%.

Sofia, March 10th, 2015 – Bulgarian employers expect hiring to continue at a cautiously optimistic pacein the second quarter of 2015. Year-over-year the results are unchanged, and remain relatively stable in comparison to the first quarter of 2015 results.

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey is based on responses by 752 employers from companies working at Bulgarian market. They have beenasked whether they intend to hire additional workers or reduce their workforce in the coming quarter. Following seasonal adjustment, the national Outlook stands at +9%.

“Bulgaria’s labour market is expected to remain one of the strongest in Europe in the second quarter. This is good news for job seekers. But employers continue to struggle in their searchfor suitable qualified employees,” Nadia Vassileva, Managing Director of Manpower Bulgaria, Serbia and Croatiacommented. “We see an increasing trend in the labour market that employers search for “soft” skills, which meansethics, readiness for change, discipline, commitment, initiative, takingondifferent responsibilities andothers. Bulgaria experiences talent shortage, so the employees who want to find a job must try to match their skills to the changing requirements ofthe labour market,” Nadia Vassileva added.

Employers in all five regions intend to hire more staff

Employers from all five regions – Bourgas, Plovdiv, Rousse, Sofia and Varna– who took part in the Manpower Employment Outlook Surveyreport positive second-quarter hiring intentions. Most optimistic are those from the Plovdiv region,with an Outlook of +12%. Right after them,with just a slight difference,are employers from Varna, reporting an Outlook of +11%,followed bySofia and Rousse,both with +10%. Employers from Bourgas predict the weakestlevel of hiring,with an Outlook standing at +1%.All regions’ results decrease fractionally compared to the first quarter of 2015.

The most optimistic sector Outlooks are reported by employers from the Finance, Insurance, Real Estate & Business Services and the Transport, Storage & Communications sectors

The most optimistichiring intentionsfor the second quarter of 2015 are reported by employers from Transport, Storage & Communications and the Finance, Insurance, Real Estate & Business Services sectors,both with Outlooks of+15%.

The forecast for Transport, Storage & Communications weakens slightly when comparedboth year-over-year and to last quarter, but the hiring environment is still expected to remain favourable.

The hiring pace in the Finance, Insurance, Real Estate& Business Services sector remains steady, just as it has been since the start of the survey in 2011.For the second quarter of 2015, employers from this sector report positive hiring planswith the Outlook standing at +15%.

Employers from the sectors of Manufacturing and Construction also expect a positive hiring pace,with Outlooks of +13% and +12% respectively. The results in the sector of Manufacturing are the same year-over-year and strengthen by a single percentage pointcompared to last quarter.

Employers in the Construction sector report stronger results compared to the first quarter this year and year-over-year.The Outlook strengthens by a considerable difference of13 percentage points year-over-year with more than one out of five employers indicating they will add to their workforces in the April-June time frame.

“The improvement in the Construction sector might be partially explained with the data reported by the National Statistical Institute that housing construction is slowly improving,” Nadia Vassileva commented. “According to NSI for the entire2014permits issued for constructionof buildingsare with3%more than in the previous2013; permits for houses with 29% more than 2013,” Nadia Vassileva added.

The only negative Outlooksare reported by employersin the sectors of Mining & Quarrying, with -2%, and Electricity, Gas & Water Supply, with -4%.

“According to different media reports, the level of foreign investment remains,as in the previous quarter. An example of foreign investment is the American company Sensata, which plans to invest EUR 40 million and open 1,500 jobs. Substantial investmentis also expected from the companies which invested in the industrial and logistics park in Bourgas,” shared Nadia Vassileva, Managing Director of Manpower Bulgaria, Serbia and Croatia. “However, it is not only foreign companies that are expanding their business in Bulgaria. ScaleFocus and Herti,two Bulgarian companies, will open over 500 jobs. Business in Bulgaria is developing and it is promising to see that Bulgarian companies are involved as well,” Nadia Vassileva added.

QUARTER

Q2_14

Q1_15

Q2_15

Bulgaria

9

10

9

Agriculture, Hunting, Forestry &Fishing

11

6

5

Construction

-1

6

12

Electricity, Gas & Water Supply

2

2

-4

Finance, Insurance, Real Estate & Business Services

16

16

15

Manufacturing

13

12

13

Mining & Quarrying

6

3

-2

Public & Social

5

9

8

Restaurants & Hotels

8

6

6

Transport, Storage & Communication

17

18

15

Wholesale & Retail Trade

8

13

10

Companies of allsizesare ready to hire but the most optimistic hiring plans are reported by large ones, with an Outlook of +16%. They are followed by small companies,where employers report an Outlookof +12%. Employers inmedium and microcompanies share Outlooks of+10% and +2%, respectively.

 

Quarter

 

Q2_14

Q1_15

Q2_15

 

 

Bourgas

3

2

1

Plovdiv

13

14

12

Rousse

12

11

10

Sofia

9

12

10

Varna

7

12

11

Source: Manpower

Question: All survey participants answered the same question: “How do you anticipate the employment rate in your region to change in the three months until the end of June 2015 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 one of the leaders on Bulgarian market 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 organisations 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 organisations 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

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