Ljubljana, 11 June (STA) - Slovenian companies have strong demand for labour, with forecasts for the third quarter of this year suggesting that a fifth of employers plan to hire, 77% expect no change and only 2% project layoffs, according to the latest employment forecast by temping agency Manpower.
This makes for a seasonally-adjusted net employment forecast of 20%, up 11 percentage points over the previous quarter and one of the strongest growth rates in the world.
Employers across all ten industries included in the survey expect strong hiring, most notably construction, where 29% of employers plan to hire, agriculture (23%) and the energy sector (21%).
Compared to the previous quarter, the outlook improved in eight of the ten industries.
The hiring prospects is strong across all Slovenian regions, most notably in the north-east and the south-east, and across all company sizes, in particular in the SME segment, where 31% of employers expect their headcount to increase.
The Manpower survey was conducted among 59,000 employers in 44 countries, 43 of which report a positive hiring outlook for the third quarter.
Slovenia is among the top six countries by net employment outlook, behind Japan, Croatia, Taiwan, the US and Greece.
"Slovenia ranks among the top countries, in the region and globally," Manpower sales director Gašper Klec told the STA, noting that the Slovenian economy was "in good shape".
Klec noted that the demand for labour is increasing, which "ultimately forces employers to be better and to improve work conditions so that they may secure appropriate staff."