Almost a third of domestic companies will start the next year with an increase in staff

By: Trademagazin Date: 2023. 12. 12. 11:11

Although there is still a lot of uncertainty regarding the path of the economy next year, in the first quarter of 2024, 31 percent of domestic employers plan to expand their current workforce, while 21 percent predict a reduction. During this period, job seekers can expect a lively demand for labor mainly at companies operating in the IT, financial and real estate market fields, according to Manpower Hungary’s Labor Market Forecast published today.

ManpowerGroup conducted its quarterly survey of more than 40,000 employers in 41 countries around the world, in which a representative sample of 525 employers in Hungary were asked about their hiring intentions in the first quarter of 2024.

The seasonally adjusted Net Employment Indicator (NFM), derived from employer responses, reached an average value of 10 percent, which is 2 percentage points lower than the previous quarter’s value, but 20 percentage points higher than the -10 percent level a year earlier. Out of the 41 examined countries, Hungary saw the greatest improvement in company headcount change expectations on a year-on-year basis.

The 12 percent increase in the number of employees is a national average from which there are significant differences when examining the individual regions. The largest increase in staff is expected in the Southern Great Plain (NFM: +21%) and the Northern Great Plain (+17%), but in Central Hungary (+13%), Budapest (+13%) and Northern Hungary (+11%) ) are also above the national average. At the same time, the outlook is more gloomy in the regions of Transdanubia: in Southern Transdanubia (-8%) more people expect to be laid off than hired, and in the other areas of the western part of the country, neither a significant increase nor a decrease is expected.