The special question in the first quarter of 2012 dealt with personnel planning by companies and asked whether and to what extent personnel managers intend to change their staffing levels this year and in 2013.
The results show that the number of companies intending to increase their staff numbers in the first half of 2012 rose by an average of around 31 percent versus the end of 2011. 26 percent of the companies surveyed also want to employ more staff in the second half of 2012 than in the first half of the year. By contrast, around 13 percent and/or 9 percent of companies plan to reduce their staffing levels in the first and second half of 2012 respectively. Looking ahead to 2013, uncertainty among personnel managers increases considerably and around 21 percent could not make any firm prognosis. Compared to the end of 2012, around 18 percent of companies want to increase their number of employees, while just 7 percent are planning to reduce their staffing levels. An interesting finding of this special question is that the number of companies forecasting an increase in staff numbers is consistently greater than the number planning to cut jobs.
In the distributive trade sector the number of companies intending to increase their staffing levels in the first half year of 2012 was above average (around 37%). In the second half of 2012 firms in the “services sector excluding distributive trade” category in particular plan to expand their staff base (31 percent). Manufacturers, on the other hand, expressed far greater caution: “only” 25 percent and/or 19 percent are planning to increase staffing levels in the first and second half of 2012 respectively.
Differentiation according to size classes of employment shows that the number of companies with 249 to 500 employees intending to increase their staffing levels in the first half of 2012 is way above average (46%). Smaller companies with up to 49 employees expressed far greater caution for this period (share of “increase”: 27%).
Ifo Personnel Manager Survey Introduction and archive
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