Senior managerial hirings look stable
The market for senior managerial staff in Greece looks to remain stable, according to the quarterly Manpower Outlook Survey. Despite recent pessimistic forecasts of thousands of jobs being lost, the international survey concludes that there will be no significant changes in the Greek market’s picture in the first three months of 2005 and that the latest data show a more balanced outlook, notes Manpower’s managing director in Greece, Venetia Kousia. «It is true that specific sectors, such as construction, after the completion of grand projects and the lack of new ones, drag down the country’s market balance. However, we tend to ignore data that either contribute to limiting demand increase or promise a more optimistic future in the short-term,» says Kousia. She explains that «thousands of positions are vacant; Greek companies report a lack of specialized manpower; the demand for part-time work is more substantial and the National Action Plan for Employment adopts previous EU Commission recommendations and promotes policies that can only have positive effects.» All this illustrates that the slump noted in European markets does not directly influence that of Greece, she adds. Manpower’s survey of more than 10,000 European employers reveals a variety of trends, with British employers emerging as the most optimistic. Compared to the previous year, employment appears weaker in six out of 11 European states, and, compared to the previous quarter, in seven out of 11. For the second consecutive quarter, Germany and Italy report they expect employment levels of managerial staff to fall. The picture is more positive in the US and Canada, where employers’ projections for hiring in the next quarter are at a four-year high.
