A quarter of Costa Rican employers expect to hire more staff in coming months

Manufacturing, commerce, transport and communications are the sectors offering the best hiring opportunities for the first three months of 2014, according an employment outlook survey released this week by consulting firm Manpower.

The results show that nearly a fourth of the country’s private sector employers – 24 percent – expect to increase their staff during the first quarter of 2014.

In addition, 67 percent of them said they will maintain their current staff and only nine percent are considering layoffs.

Employers in six industry sectors forecast an increase in staffing levels. However, employers from the agriculture, fishing, and mining and extraction sectors predicted only small increases, of about 6 percent. 

The study noted that despite employer caution over increases in staff, the figures in some provinces show favorable hiring trends. 

Heredia is the province with highest hiring expectations for this period at 21 percent, followed by the capital San José at 14 percent, Cartago at 13 percent and Guanacaste at 10 percent.

The province of Alajuela has the lowest expectations, as only 5 percent of surveyed employers cited positive hiring figures. Coastal provinces of Puntarenas and Limón came in at 6 percent.

The overall results show an increase of two percent from the previous quarter, and expectations remain the same as those obtained for the the first quarter of 2013.  

Manpower’s survey was conducted with a representative sample of 620 employers from different sectors across the country.