The newest wave of the joint research project by the National Labour Office and the HCCI Institute for Economic and Enterprise Research entitled “Short-term Labour Market Forecast” took place in September and October of 2013. During the survey managers of 7,108 companies were asked about current and expected labour demand. The results can be considered as representative both geographically and by economic sector, as well as by company size. The following is a short presentation of the results compared with other data sources and relevant estimates.

After three years a positive change can be seen in the subjective business situation assessment of companies – the index increased by five percentage points in a year. In the autumn of 2013 the rate of companies that were considered to be in a favourable business situation was 16 percent points higher than those who had a negative outlook. The business outlook for 2014 is more optimistic than at any time in recent years – the index is near 24 points. This optimism can be traced back to the expectations of the companies in the services sector, those within the areas of finance, and export-oriented companies.