Manpower confirms hiring surge

Manpower’s quarterly Employment Outlook Survey, released Dec. 14, reports that 27 percent of Springfield area employers polled plan to hire more employees in the first quarter of 2005. Only 3 percent plan to reduce their payrolls, according to a Manpower news release, and 67 percent expect to maintain their current staffing levels. Three percent of respondents said they weren’t sure.

Although SBJ’s survey showed more companies with plans to hire in 2005 compared to 2004, Manpower’s quarterly survey showed less hiring activity anticipated in first-quarter 2005 compared to fourth-quarter 2004.

“In the Springfield area, employers expect less hiring activity (for first-quarter 2005) than in fourth quarter, when 37 percent of the companies interviewed intended to increase headcount and 7 percent planned to decrease it,” said Sharon Walker, Manpower spokesperson, in the release. “Employers are more optimistic about hiring than they were a year ago, when 17 percent of companies surveyed thought employment increases were likely and 7 percent intended to cut back.”

Locally, according to the Manpower survey, job prospects appear strongest in construction, durable goods, manufacturing, wholesale/retail trade and services. Mixed hiring intentions were revealed in nondurable goods manufacturing, and hiring in transportation/public utilities, education, finance/insurance/real estate and public administration is expected to remain unchanged.