Recent News

June 24, 2011

Hiring Trends Look Favorable

~ written by Bruce Rowles, Experis

Each quarter, ManpowerGroup publishes the results of the US Employment Outlook Survey. For over 40 years, it has become the only survey of its kind in the industry and a true indicator of employer hiring trends. The survey asks employers only one question, “How do you anticipate total employment at your location to change in the next calendar quarter as compared to the current quarter.”

Of the more than 18,000 employers surveyed, 20 percent anticipate an increase in staff levels in their Quarter 3 2011 hiring plans, while 8 percent expect a decrease in payrolls, resulting in a Net Employment Outlook of +12%. When seasonally adjusted, the Net Employment Outlook becomes +8%. Sixty-nine percent of employers expect no change in their hiring plans. The final 3 percent of employers indicate they are undecided about their hiring intentions.

“Our data shows that one in five employers plans to add staff in the next three months, the highest ratio we’ve seen since the recovery started,” said Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup President of the Americas. “As more employers shift to hiring mode, we are starting to see talented job seekers receive multiple employment offers, and also negotiate for higher salaries. As hiring momentum slowly builds, the talent supply and demand challenges of the Human Age will impact hiring trends. Employers may want to hire, but they will struggle to find the right person, in the right place, which will bring a level of urgency to developing new recruiting and training strategies.”

“Although employers are not signaling dramatic upswings in hiring plans, there does seem to be hiring energy developing based on sustained year-over-year growth,” said Prising. “This is also the eleventh consecutive quarter with a single-digit net employment outlook, indicating a level of caution not seen among employers in the last 30 years of data. This fact, along with many clouds still on the economic horizon, may explain the tepid labor market growth we have seen so far.”

For the Columbus Metropolitan area, 18% of the companies interviewed plan to hire more employees while 9% expect to cut staff. Another 70% expect to maintain their current staff levels and 3% are not certain of their hiring plans. this yields a net employment outlook of 9%.

For the coming quarter, job prospects in central Ohio appear best in durable and non-durable goods manufacturing, transportation & utilities, information, professional & business services, leisure & hospitality and other services. Employers in wholesale & retail trade and government plan to reduce staffing levels, while construction, financial activities and education & health services employers report no change in hiring sentiment.

The legal market, which is included in the professional and business services industry sector, shows 27% of Midwest companies interviewed predict an increase in hiring over the second quarter of 2011, a net increase of 22%, one of the highest net increases of all industry segments. This is great news for the professional & business services industry sector for US business. Let’s anticipate this positive trend to continue throughout this year and 2012.