Private-sector employers wary of hiring during next quarter

Only two out of 10 private sector employers in Costa Rica are planning to hire more staff in the next quarter, consulting firm Manpower found. However, only 5 percent said they are considering layoffs in the next three months.

The company’s Employment Outlook Survey Q1-2017 released this week found that 72 percent of employers do not anticipate changes in their staff. The best options for job-seekers are in companies located in Heredia. Almost a quarter of companies —22 percent— in that province said they will expand their payrolls.

The figure is the best net employment outlook for the country, and also the best for Heredia since Q4-2011, Manpower reported.

Companies in Guanacaste and Alajuela followed at 16 and 14 percent as the most positive outlooks for the period. Employers in San José were fourth, followed by those in Puntarenas and Limón. Employers in Cartago, at 8 percent, were the most cautious with their hiring expectations.

The net employment outlook for the country is 12 percent, which represents three percentage points more than the outlook recorded for the current quarter. The figure however is three percentage points lower from results recorded during the first quarter of this year.

Hiring by sector

Manpower Country Manager Ana Gabriela Chaverri at a news conference said that all six industrial sectors evaluated showed positive outlooks for the next quarter.

Companies in the Communications & Transportation sector, at 18 percent, showed the best hiring expectations, followed by those from the Services sector and companies in the Agriculture and Fisheries sectors. Hiring intentions improved in four of the six sectors, compared to the current quarter, including services, agriculture and fisheries, and telecommunications and transportation sector, where Chaverri said the recent arrivals of new airlines are the main drivers of the boost.

The telecom sector will benefit from recent announcements such as the launching of operations here next year of U.S. giant AT&T, and a Telecommunications Superintendence confirmation of the opening of public bids to grant telephone and Internet contracts worth $37 million.

“The job outlook for next year can be described as positive,” Chaverri said, adding that recent growth in the local economy should favor a more optimistic outlook for the business sector in coming periods.