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Manpower survey shows fewer will hire, more will lay off

Amid high unemployment and mounting job losses, Milwaukee’s Manpower Inc. today reports dim hiring prospects at least through the end of the year.

The latest quarterly Manpower Employment Outlook Survey reveals the bleakest conditions in five years, with fewer plans for hiring and an increased willingness to reduce staff.

“For the jobseeker, it’s not real bright news,” said Jeff Joerres, chairman, president and chief executive of the global employment services company. “Some of this is just the clearing of the fog and knowing that there really was an accident that happened.”

Manpower’s forecast follows a Labor Department report Friday that the U.S. unemployment rate is at its steepest in nearly five years and that employers have shed jobs every month so far in 2008.

On Monday, the Conference Board, a business research and membership organization, reported that its monthly Employment Trends Index also reflected rapidly deteriorating job conditions that could continue into next year.

“The shoes are dropping,” said Joerres, who for years has characterized employers’ attitudes as steady-as-it-goes, uncertain about the economy but cautious against being shorthanded.

“With the demand slowing at the pace it’s been slowing, there’s nowhere to go anymore,” Joerres said.

Nationwide, 13 percent of employers say they plan to cut personnel in the fourth quarter, according to Manpower’s survey of 14,000 organizations. That’s the highest percentage expecting fourth-quarter reductions since 2003. The 22 percent expecting to add workers is the lowest for the quarter in five years.

Employers in the Janesville area expect to hire at a sluggish pace during the fourth quarter of 2008. From October to December, 13 percent of the local companies interviewed plan to hire more employees, while 20 percent expect to reduce their payrolls. Another 60 percent expect to maintain their current staff levels, and 7 percent are not certain of their hiring plans.

For the coming quarter, employers in construction, finance/insurance/real estate and services plan to reduce staffing levels, while those in non-durable goods manufacturing and wholesale/retail trade voice mixed hiring intentions. Hiring in durable goods manufacturing, transportation/public utilities, education and public administration is expected to remain unchanged.

Nationwide, even sectors that tend to perk up at the end of year are showing weakness in the Manpower survey.

“When we look at the numbers, this holiday season is not projected to have as strong of hiring in the retail sector as it did last year,” Joerres said. “And last year was a bit soft.”