Hiring in the second quarter by U.S. employers will slow considerably compared with the same period last year, according to the employment outlook survey by Manpower Inc.
The report found that 15 percent of the 31,800 employers surveyed planned to increase their staff levels in the second quarter, 14 percent planned a decrease, 67 percent estimated no change, and 4 percent were unsure—for a net employment outlook of 1 percent.
For the second quarter of last year, the net employment outlook was 17 percent.
“A significant number of employers surveyed anticipate ‘no change’ in their employment intentions for the upcoming quarter,” said Manpower chairman and CEO Jeffrey Joerres. “This tells us that in this difficult economic environment, employers are attempting to manage the tension between generating a profit and maintaining their workforce infrastructure.”
The leisure and hospitality industry sector posted the highest net employment outlook for the second quarter at 14 percent. Professional and business services ranked next at 9 percent.
Mining registered the lowest net employment outlook in the second quarter at -9 percent. It had the highest outlook in the first quarter.
The Midwest and Northeast reported the highest net employment outlooks, up 2 percent each.
The top-ranked metropolitan area in the U.S. was Yakima, Washington, which had a net employment outlook of 21 percent. The Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, areas posted the lowest at -16 percent.
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