Manpower Survey Finds Healthy Hiring Outlook For First Quarter
MILWAUKEE, Wis. - Employers in Michigan expect to hire at a healthy pace during the first quarter of 2013, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.
From January to March, 16 percent of the companies interviewed plan to hire more employees, while 5 percent expect to reduce their payrolls. Another 77 percent expect to maintain their current staff levels and 2 percent are not certain of their hiring plans. This yields a Net Employment Outlook of plus 11 percent.
The outlook is stronger compared to a year ago, when it was plus 2 percent, and stronger than the fourth quarter, when it was plus 9 percent.
The Net Employment Outlook is derived by taking the percentage of employers anticipating an increase in hiring activity and subtracting from this the percentage of employers expecting a decrease in hiring activity. Outlooks above zero indicate the economy is expanding and will add jobs, outlooks below zero indicate economic slowdowns.
For the coming quarter, job prospects appear best in durable and non-durable goods manufacturing, transportation and utilities, wholesale and retail trade, information, financial activities, professional and business services, education and health services, leisure and hospitality, other services and government. Only employers in construction plan to reduce staffing levels.
In the Detroit-Warren-Livonia Metropolitan Statistical Area, 15 percent of companies interviewed plan to hire more employees, while 4 percent expect to reduce staff. Another 79 percent expect to maintain their current workforce levels and 2 percent are not certain of their hiring plans. This yields a Net Employment Outlook of plus 11 percent.
In the Detroit area, job prospects appear best in durable goods manufacturing, transportation and utilities, wholesale and retail trade, information, financial activities, professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and other services. Employers in government plan to reduce staffing levels, while hiring in construction, non-durable goods manufacturing and education and health services is expected to remain unchanged.
In the Grand Rapids-Wyoming MSA, 16 percent of employers plan to hire more employees, 5 percent expect to reduce staff, 77 percent expect to maintain their current workforce and 2 percent are not certain, yielding a Net Employment Outlook of plus 11 percent.
In the Grand Rapids area, job prospects appear brightest in durable goods manufacturing, transportation and utilities, wholesale and retail trade, information, professional and business services, education and health services, leisure and hospitality, other services, and government. Employers in construction and non-durable goods manufacturing plan to reduce staffing levels, while hiring in financial activities is expected to remain unchanged.
Nationally, of more than 18,000 employers surveyed, 17 percent expect to add to their workforces, and 8 percent expect a decline in their payrolls during the first quarter. Seventy-two percent of employers anticipate making no change to staff levels, and the remaining 3 percent of employers are undecided about their hiring plans. When seasonal variations are removed from the data, the Net Employment Outlook is plus 12 percent, up slightly from the fourth quarter's plus 11 percent.
Nationally, employers have a positive outlook in 12 of the 13 industry sectors included in the survey: wholesale and retail trade (plus 17 percent), leisure and hospitality (plus 14 percent), professional and business services (plus 13 percent) information (plus 12 percent), financial activities (plus 11 percent), education and health services (plus 8 percent), government (plus 8 percent), mining (plus 7 percent), other services (plus 7 percent), durable goods manufacturing (plus 5 percent), non-durable goods manufacturing (plus 5 percent) and transportation and utilities (plus 4 percent). Only construction had a negative outlook, minus 2 percent.
