by Kostas Zaligkas

ATHENS, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Two out of ten employers in Greece are optimistic about the increase of their workforce in the fourth quarter of 2018, reports a survey on hiring intentions by Manpower Group released on Tuesday.

The percentage of the employers that have stated that their workforce will increase in the last three months of 2018 reaches 21 percent, while on the contrary 9 percent of them expect their workforce to decline.

Almost seven out of ten employers (66 percent) in Greece believe that the number of their employees won't change at the fourth quarter of 2018.

"After a decade of austerity in Greece, there are certain signs that show that the economy is improving. Reforms have been implemented at the sector of energy and resources and that leads to the improvement of the economy and the creation of new jobs in Greece," summarizes the survey.

Employers expect an increase of the number of workers in all nine sectors of economic activity -- retail and wholesale (21 percent), electricity, natural gas and water (20 percent), financial, insurance, real estate services (19 percent), transport and communications (18 percent), construction (17 percent), and agricultural (5 percent) -- in the next three months.

On Aug. 20, 2018, Greece has exited the harsh bailout programs after eight years of debt crisis during which record high unemployment rates were recorded.

According to the latest official statistics the unemployment rate fell to 19.1 percent this summer.