Employers Plan to Recruit for Jobs in Connecticut

Posted on September 7, 2010

According to a recent survey by Manpower, employers are gearing up to hire for jobs in Connecticut and other regions in the U.S.

Employers’ hiring plans for the upcoming fourth quarter stayed about flat from the previous quarter, but are up significantly from a year ago, according to the latest Manpower Employer Outlook survey published Tuesday.

A seasonally adjusted net 5% of firms said they intend to hire in the fourth quarter, about flat from the 6% who said they planned to hire in the third quarter, but up from a record low of negative 2% a year ago, according to the Milwaukee-based firm’s survey of more than 18,000 U.S. employers.

Employers’ hiring plans were negative for the last three quarters of 2009, but positive for all four quarters in 2010, according to the survey.

Still, in a robust economy, Manpower’s seasonally adjusted net employment outlook hovers in the low- to mid-20s. Before the record low of negative 2% for the third and fourth quarters of 2009, the survey’s previous low point was a net 1% hiring outlook for the third quarter of 1982. The survey started in 1962.

“The employment outlook has been positive for all four quarters but clearly it’s flattening out,” said Jonas Prising, president of Manpower in the Americas.

Employers’ hiring outlook “remains better than last year all the way through but it indicates that employers are taking a very cautious approach to hiring,” he said. “They still want to maintain and hold on to their current work force but are only anticipating cautious hiring.”

The Manpower survey measures the percentage of firms planning to hire minus those intending layoffs. Manpower doesn’t measure the number of jobs.

Separately, the U.S. economy lost 54,000 nonfarm jobs in August, though the private sector gained 67,000 jobs, according to the Labor Department. See story on smaller-than-feared 54,000 nonfarm jobs lost.