Reserved optimism on employment
Hirings can be expected to rise slightly in the first quarter of next year as Greek employers told an international quarterly survey by the ManpowerGroup, published this week, that they discerned a small improvement in the employment prospects for January-March 2016.
Total employment in the first quarter of next year is expected to rise 4 percent, an improvement of 11 percentage points on the final quarter of 2015, but down 4 points from the first quarter of this year.
Out of the 750 Greek participants in the survey, 11 percent expect an increase in the number of employees, another 11 percent expect a reduction, 71 percent anticipate no change in the size of their labor force and 7 percent said they did not know whether there would be any changes in the next quarter.
Employers forecast a work force increase in five out of the nine main sectors of economic activity. The strongest hiring prospects are expected in the financial, insurance, property and corporate services sectors, where a rise of 15 percent is being anticipated. Tourism follows with an increase of 11 percent.
Manpower Greece chairwoman and chief executive Venetia Koussia said the fact employers remain cautiously optimistic amid the kind of political uncertainty that has hurt economic sentiment this year underlines the resilience of the local business network.
