According to the surveys developed by Manpower Group and SEL among private sector companies and to the estimations of several analysts, employment expectations show a slight rise when compared to the same period a year ago.

Companies are optimistic about the impact of the change in the political party governing the country both in terms of hiring more staff and improving their profit. Analysts believe that improvements in the labour world will gain power by the end of 2016. The most dynamic sectors could be: construction, transport, retail, public administration and agriculture.

Nevertheless, for the time being, companies do not expect a great improvement of the labour market. There are several reasons for them to be cautious. Recently, the elections in Argentina put an end to 12 years of a political party ruling the country. Several measures have been applied since that change, such as the end of the government restriction of currency exchange, devaluation, a possible impact of these measures on prices, and, in just a few days from now, the beginning of negotiations between unions and companies.

Despite this cautions, companies have provided encouraging answers in the survey, particularly when compared to last years’ answers. According to Manpower Group, the net employment expectation is +8%, which means an improvement of 5 points when compared to last year and of 2 points when compared to the previous quarter. SEL Consultores have estimated a net growth of +6%, where 35% of companies believe that the new government will have a positive impact, while 58% of companies consider that there will be no changes and only 7% expect negative effects.

The figures published in both surveys show a clear improvement regarding 2014, as there are finally positive expectations after two years of negative employment expectations.

Information published by Manpower Group show that companies that have the largest improvement margins are medium companies (12%), followed by small companies (5%) and by large (4%).

Experts state that as long as the economy starts growing again, a growth in employment is expected. Jorge Colina, director of Idesa, said that “in order to make the most of the potential of employment creation, social contributions must be reduced, particularly in jobs with lowest payment”.

Source: La Nación