While 6 percent of those surveyed expect to reduce staff in the third quarter, that was just one percentage point higher than the 5 percent who planned to cut staff in the second quarter, according to the survey.
Meanwhile, the majority of employers — 73 percent — plan to maintain current staffing levels or are undecided about their third-quarter hiring plans.
“The numbers for the third quarter are more optimistic than they were going into the second quarter, but they still trail the outlook at this time last year,” said Manpower of Dayton CEO Tom Maher.
Last year, 25 percent of local employers were forecasting growth in the third quarter, while 8 percent planned to shrink their workforce.
Still, a steady pick up in hiring so far this year has generated a positive outlook for most industries in the local area, Maher said.
“We’re seeing the greatest demand in manufacturing,” he said. “This market is still extremely heavily weighted in manufacturing…both durable goods and non-durable. We’re also seeing some action in construction, which is primarily seasonal. But there’s obviously a lot of construction going on with some of the new logistics and manufacturing facilities being built here.”
Health care, wholesale and retail operations and the leisure and hospitality industries also have seen strong demand for workers, Maher said: “The only areas that were showing some decreases were the government sector, which continues to reduce staffing levels, and also information technology companies, which were not forecasting growth.”
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