Survey: Area hiring to improve in second quarter

Local employers expect to hire at a “positive pace” during the second quarter of 2014, according to the latest hiring survey by staffing firm Manpower.

Among area employers who participated in Manpower’s latest hiring survey, 18 percent plan to increase staff levels in the April-to-June quarter, while 5 percent expect to reduce staff.

Both figures are improvement over the first quarter, when 15 percent of firms intended to hire, while 8 percent were looking at employee cuts, according to the Manpower survey.

The second quarter survey also found that 73 percent of employers expect to maintain their current workforce levels, and 4 percent are uncertain about their hiring plans from April to June.

Manpower’s “net employment outlook” — the percentage difference between firms planning to hire and those planning to cut — is 13 percent for the second quarter of the year.

“Hiring activity is expected to increase during the second quarter of 2014 compared to quarter one, when the net employment outlook was 7 percent,” said Tom Maher, president and chief executive of Manpower of Dayton, in a statement.

“Employers expect slightly improved employment prospects compared with one year ago when the net employment outlook was 10 percent,” he said.

The most promising hiring sectors in the second quarter include durable goods manufacturing; transportation and utilities; wholesale and retail trade; finance; professional and business services; education and health services; leisure and hospitality; and government, according to Manpower.

Construction employers plan to reduce staffing levels, while hiring in nondurable goods manufacturing and the information sector is expected to remain unchanged.

Nationally, of the more than 18,000 U.S. employers surveyed, 19 percent expect to add to their workforces, while 4 percent plan payroll cuts, Manpower said.

When seasonal variations are removed from the data, the nation’s net employment outlook of 13 percent for the second quarter remains unchanged from the previous quarter.

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