A majority of employers in Costa Rica – 69 percent – say they do not foresee major changes in staff for the remainder of the year, consulting firm Manpower reported this week.
According to the Manpower Employment Outlook Q4, 22 percent of employers expect to increase their staff, while 9 percent anticipate layoffs.
The results of the study also show that employers reported positive hiring prospects in five out of six industry sectors for the upcoming quarter.
The strongest hiring activity is forecast for the transport and communications sector, with a Net Employment Outlook of +18 percent.
Steady job increases also are anticipated in the manufacturing and services sectors, with outlooks of +16 and +15 percent, respectively.
However, employers reported a 16 percent decrease in the construction sector and uncertain hiring prospects in agriculture, fishing and mining, where the outlook stands at 0 percent.
Employers in five of Costa Rica’s seven provinces expect to increase their staff in the next quarter, with the northwestern province of Guanacaste reporting the most optimistic hiring climate, with an Employment Outlook of +21 percent.
In the capital, companies have modest hiring plans with a trend of +10 percent. Cartago is less optimistic, with a hiring climate tendency of -3 percent.
Compared with Q4 2012, hiring prospects weaken in five provinces, particularly in Cartago, where those numbers dropped by 22 percent. Employers in Puntarenas and Limón report a 7 percent decline, and the outlook is 5 percent weaker in San José, Alajuela and Heredia. However, employers in the northwestern province of Guanacaste report an increase of 17 percent.
The employment outlook for the last quarter of 2013 was conducted on a representative sample of 620 employers across the country, Manpower stated.
