Approximately 16.7% of entrepreneurs believe that this year’s economic environment will be favorable for business development, according to the results of a survey conducted by the National Council of Private Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Romania (CNIPMMR).

Another 41.4% estimate that the current year presents an unfavorable economic environment for the development of the business, and 41.8% of the entrepreneurs participating in the survey consider that the economic environment in 2021 is a neutral one.

Regarding the workforce, 54.4% of entrepreneurs claim that they will keep the current number of employees, 24.9% estimate that they will lay off between 1 and 10 employees, and 15.2% estimate that they will hire between 1 and 10 employees, according to Agerpres.

Regarding the evolution of the salaries of their employees, 70.2% of respondents believe that they will remain at the same level in 2021, 11.8% of entrepreneurs say that salaries will be increased by up to 10%, and 9.7% believe that wages will fall by more than 10%.

Regarding the way in which employees will work in the first 6 months of this year, 60.3% of entrepreneurs say that they will be permanently present at work, 31.2% of respondents mention that their employees will alternate physical presence at work by telework, and 8.5% of entrepreneurs say that their employees will work permanently in telework.

The survey was conducted by CNIPMMR between February 16 and March 7, and it was attended by 2,544 entrepreneurs, of which 52.3% were leaders of micro-enterprises, 24.1% were leaders of small enterprises, 14.8% medium enterprise managers and 8.8% were leaders of large enterprises, NGOs or other forms.