U.S. manufacturing and service-sector employers’ hiring plans for March are improved compared with the same month a year ago, according to a report on leading indicators of national employment released Friday, March 5, by the Society for Human Resource Management.

A survey for the report found that 45.8 percent of manufacturing firms plan to add staff in March while 12.1 percent plan cuts—for a net increase of 33.7 percent. This compares with a net decrease of 19.6 percent in March 2009.

In the service sector, employers plan a net increase of 46.5 percent in March, compared with a net increase of 8.5 percent on March 2009.

The SHRM report is based on a survey of private-sector human resources professionals at more than 500 manufacturing and more than 500 service-sector firms.

Filed by Staffing Industry Analysts, a sister company of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

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