September 11 (SeeNews) - The healthy hiring intentions reported by Croatian employers in the past two quarters of 2018 have been replaced by a more cautious forecast for the fourth quarter, with the net employment outlook dropping drastically, recruitment company ManpowerGroup said on Tuesday.
Croatia's net employment outlook stands at +9% in the period of October to December, or 17 percentage points weaker when compared with the previous quarter, ManpowerGroup said in its latest Employment Outlook Survey, which includes Croatia for the third time.
However, despite the weaker forecast, Manpower noted that the survey of 620 Croatian employers indicates payrolls are still expected to grow during the last three months of the year, but at a considerably slower pace than in the previous two quarters.
When industry sectors and regions are considered separately, payrolls are expected to grow in seven of eight industry sectors and two of four regions during the upcoming quarter. When compared with the third quarter of 2018, hiring plans weaken by varying degrees in all eight sectors and all four regions.
Manufacturing sector employers report the strongest hiring plans for the fourth quarter of 2018 with an outlook of +26%, down by 2 percentage points on the quarter.
Restaurants & Hotels sector employers report the weakest sector hiring prospects for the next three months with a gloomy outlook of -12%. The outlook sinks by a steep margin of 53 percentage points when compared with the third quarter of 2018.
"In order to stabilize the Croatian labour market, the government should adapt the whole new set of fiscal and parafiscal policies and make it easier for employers to recruit new employees," Nebojsa Biskup, CEO of Manpower Croatia, said.
"The overall decline in Croatia’s net employment outlook is likely the result of less hiring activity as tourism slows down and related services decline and employers simply don’t need as much help," Biskup commented.
A total of 59,351 employers in the 44 countries and territories were surveyed by ManpowerGroup to measure employer hiring intentions for the final quarter of 2018.