2016-04-06
Survey: number of profitable enterprises is growing, businesses plan to increase salaries
Businesses give a positive assessment of the activity outlook, the number of enterprises operating at a profit is growing, nearly every second enterprise increased salaries and plan to do so in the future, shows the data of the latest survey initiated by the Bank of Lithuania.
‘The survey revealed that enterprises are becoming financially stronger — more enterprises increase income and operate at a profit, their expectations are optimistic; both export and domestic demand are expected to grow. However, businesses are faced with the lack of qualified staff which is becoming a rapidly growing problem. It is likely that businesses try to solve this issue by increasing salaries,’ said Andrius Škarnulis, Head of the Macroprudential Analysis Division of the Bank of Lithuania.
According to the survey, 77 per cent of the surveyed enterprises operated at a profit — a 6 p.p. increase compared with the results of the previous survey. The largest number of profitable enterprises was in the industrial sector (81%), while the smallest (73%) — in the services sector. Almost half (46%) of the surveyed enterprises reported that their income increased in the period under review — the share of such enterprises increased by 7 p.p. over the half-year.
Nearly every second enterprise that participated in the survey (46%) indicated that it increased their staff salaries over the past half-year. Most often salaries increased in industrial enterprises (56% of the surveyed enterprises in this sector increased them), most rarely — in the trade sector (39%). Similar trends of change in salaries are expected in the future as well — 41 per cent of the respondents project that salaries will increase in the first quarter of 2016.
One of the reasons that could have encouraged the increase in salaries might have been the more notable lack of qualified staff. There were more enterprises that reported the shortage in qualified staff as a major difficulty than those that saw it as an insignificant issue. In the perception of the enterprises, the lack of qualified staff will become a rapidly growing problem in the future — this view is shared by almost a fourth of respondents, while 5 per cent of enterprises report that the significance of this issue will diminish.
Surveys of Enterprises on Business Financing are conducted twice a year in order to assess the demand of enterprises for financial resources, changes in borrowing from credit and other financial institutions, developments in credit standards, as well as to obtain information on changes in the financial standing and operations of enterprises. A detailed review of the Survey will be published next week.