The latest ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey revealed that for the first quarter of 2021, a 2% growth in hiring is expected in Costa Rica. Despite the minimal growth forecast, employers view the period that includes the months of January, February and March with relative “optimism”. This, in large part to the reaction that the markets have shown after the economic reopening.
Meanwhile, the country continues to show unemployment of 22% between the months of August, September and October, despite the greater economic openness. The above was reported by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC) earlier this month.
Results In total
14% of those consulted foresee an increase in hiring, while 10% indicated a decrease. For their part, 74% assured that they do not expect changes. To this 4%, the consulting company adds a variable formula that leaves the net expectation at 2%, with an increase of 16 percentage points and a relatively stable annual stability (1%). However, it stressed that after two quarters with negative trends, 2021 would start with a small reversal of that. It is a subtle improvement but employers are optimistic about the economic and border reopening.
Long wait
As an example of this, it was pointed out the transport market as a consequence of the opening of borders to tourists. This is also supported because consistency is seen with other observations that have been made, such as lodgings. In addition to transport, the communications sector shows the strongest trend (9%), while the sector that lags the most is construction with -10%, followed by services (-9%) and commerce (-2%) .
After the economic crisis generated by the COVID-19 Pandemic, 27%, say that it will take them more than a year to recover the levels they had before the health crisis, while 26% still do not know . When analyzing by province, the most prominent case is that of San José, which went from being the one that represented the worst hiring expectation (-19%) in the last survey, to one of the strongest, with a projection of the 5%.
Regional data
At the global level, the national situation improved compared to the last quarter of this year. After being one of the 21 countries to report negative projections, between October and December, Costa Rica becomes one of the 34 nations to show positive hiring intentions.
The region also managed to rebound since nine of the 10 countries that participated indicated positive figures, with Panama being the only one to report a negative trend (-7%), in Latin America, while Brazil has the highest (10%) .
The survey, which is carried out in 43 countries, indicated that the most optimistic estimates are for Taiwan, the United States and Singapore, while the weakest markets are expected in Panama, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.
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