Heard on the Street

EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK. Manpower Temporary Services' quarterly employment outlook survey reveals a little better picture than this time last year but not quite as good as last quarter. Companies responding to Manpower's local fourth-quarter hiring survey showed job openings in manufacturing, transportation, and wholesale and retail trade. Cutbacks are projected in construction, nondurable goods manufacturing and public administration. The survey showed overall that 33 percent plan personnel increases, 13 percent project reduced employment and 47 percent of respondents expect no change. The 1998 fourth-quarter survey had 26 percent of respondents intending to increase staffing. In the third-quarter survey, 40 percent of respondents said they would recruit new employees. Nationally, Manpower's survey showed 30 percent of the 16,000 firms interviewed said they would increase employment, 8 percent expect reductions and 58 percent responded that they expect no change.

PRIME. Springfield's Prime Inc. made an appearance in the Commercial Carrier Journal's Top 100 for-hire trucking firms at No. 27. The August issue of Commercial Carrier Journal ranked trucking firms nationally based on 1998 revenues. Prime earned its spot by virtue of $412.4 million in 1998 revenues, up 19.4 percent from 1997 revenues that placed Prime 32nd on the list for last year. Other trucking firms in the region also appeared on the list. Among them were Yellow Freight Systems, based in Overland Park, Kan., at No. 3