Survey: Springfield employers will maintain staff levels

From January to March, 83 percent of interviewed companies say they expect to maintain their current staffing levels. About 10 percent plan to hire, while 7 percent anticipate reducing their payrolls.

The projected hiring pace is significantly slower than was expected in fourth-quarter 2006, when 27 percent of employers said they were going to hire. At the time, no companies expected to cut jobs.

The beginning of 2006 saw projections similar to early 2007. In the first quarter of this year, 10 percent of employers planned to hire, and 10 percent planned to cut back.

Job prospects in first-quarter 2007 appear best in transportation and public utilities and services. Meanwhile, employers in wholesale and retail trade plan to cut workers. Hiring in construction, durable goods manufacturing, finance/insurance/real estate, education and public administration is expected to remain unchanged.

Springfield’s hiring and firing plans are slightly less ambitious than Missouri’s, where 23 percent of companies intend to increase their work forces and 13 percent plan to decrease them. Another 60 percent expects to keep their payrolls the same, while 4 percent are undecided.

On a national level, nearly one-quarter – 23 percent – of employers expect to add workers. About 11 percent plan to cut their staffing levels, and 60 percent anticipate no change in their hiring paces. Six percent are undecided.[[In-content Ad]]