Fewer Employers Planning To Hire in Third Quarter

Milwaukee, WI, June 10, 2008--The portion of employers who said they plan to hire in the upcoming third quarter decreased in the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.

The quarterly survey of hiring plans found that a net 12 percent of firms expect to hire in the third quarter, down from 14 percent in the second quarter and 17 percent in the first quarter.

Manpower's seasonally adjusted net-employment numbers, based on a survey of about 14,000 U.S. companies, measure the percentage of firms planning to hire minus those intending layoffs. Manpower doesn't measure the number of jobs.

While the survey has found a slow, steady decline in hiring intentions in the past few years, hovering at 18 percent for most of 2007, that decline picked up speed in the three most recent quarterly surveys.

The last time hiring intentions increased quarter-over-quarter was in 2006, when 21 percent of firms said they intended to hire in the second quarter.

In the construction industry, just 2 percent of employers said they plan to hire in the third quarter, down from 3 percent in the second quarter and 10 percent in the first quarter.

The most difficult part of the country to seek a job right now, according to the survey, is the West.