Second-Quarter Hiring Plans in U.S. Stable, Manpower Says
March 09, 2010, 12:17 AM ESTBy Shobhana Chandra
March 9 (Bloomberg) -- The number of U.S. employers planning to keep staffing levels unchanged held at a record high for a second consecutive quarter, signaling sustained job creation will take time as the economy recovers, a private survey showed.
Manpower Inc., the world’s second-largest provider of temporary workers, said 73 percent of employers anticipated no change in hiring from April through June, the same as in the first quarter and the highest since the group’s records began in 1972. Sixteen percent of respondents said they anticipated expanding payrolls, while 8 percent projected a decrease.
The report adds to evidence that the labor market is stabilizing as the nation emerges from the worst recession since the 1930s. Labor Department figures last week showed firings are abating, indicating businesses may be closer to the increased hiring that’s needed to boost consumer spending and fuel the recovery.
“We’re looking at a stable labor market, pointed in the right direction,” Jeffrey Joerres, chief executive officer of Milwaukee-based Manpower, said in an interview. “Companies’ intent is to hold or to hire, and the propensity to fire is decreasing. This is an improvement, it’s just not good enough.”
The unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent in February while payrolls dropped by 36,000, less than anticipated, Labor Department figures showed on March 5. The world’s largest economy needs employment growth to sustain a rebound from a recession that has cost 8.4 million jobs since December 2007.
Net Employment Index
Manpower’s index that subtracts the percentage of employers planning to cut jobs from those who plan to add them, and adjusts the results for seasonal variations was little changed in the second quarter. The net employment outlook for April through June fell to 5 from 6 in the first quarter.
Compared with the second quarter of 2009, the group’s gauge of employment rose from minus 2.
Eleven of 13 industries surveyed by Manpower, including manufacturing, retail, and financial activities, anticipated an increase in second-quarter hiring compared with the prior three months. Governments projected a smaller drop in jobs.
Employers in the Northeast predicted the strongest hiring prospects for next quarter, followed by the South and West, while those in the Midwest projected the weakest employment outlook.
Manpower interviewed more than 18,000 employers in the U.S.
Global Outlook
The employment outlook is also steadying worldwide, the survey showed. Nineteen of 35 countries and territories surveyed reported an increase in hiring plans compared with the first quarter, led by emerging markets. Job prospects were the most favorable in India, Brazil, Taiwan, Peru, Costa Rica and Australia. The outlook was the weakest in countries including Italy, Spain and Ireland.
The Manpower survey is conducted quarterly and has a margin of error of plus or minus 0.61 percentage point in the U.S. The global data covered more than 61,000 employers.
--Editors: Vince Golle, Christopher Wellisz
-0- Mar/09/2010 05:01 GMT
To contact the reporter on this story: Shobhana Chandra in Washington schandra1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Wellisz at cwellisz@bloomberg.net
