We have both been in the "Biz," so we know what this means.
Employers' hiring outlook is best since beginning of 2001
More expect to add workers next quarter, Manpower survey says
By JOEL DRESANG - Milwaukee Journal
jdresang@journalsentinel.com
Posted: March 15, 2004
Employers are more bullish on hiring than they've been since the beginning of the recession, Manpower Inc. says in a report being released Tuesday.
Not since the first quarter of 2001 have hiring managers expressed such optimism in plans to add employees, according to the latest quarterly survey by the Glendale company, the nation's leading employer of temporary workers.
More than a quarter - 28% - of the 16,000 organizations surveyed expect to increase their work forces in April through June; 6% anticipate staff reductions.
That's slightly cheerier than the same time last year, when 22% planned to hire and 9% to fire. The balance expected no changes or weren't sure.
"Based on the hiring intentions that were reported across a majority of the companies surveyed, it is clear that demand for their products and services has finally surpassed the capacity and productivity of the current work force," Jeff Joerres, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Manpower, said in a statement.
Hiring expectations have improved from a year ago in every region of the country and across every industry group, including the key manufacturing sectors, Joerres said.
Nationwide, construction employers indicated their strongest outlook since 1978.
In the four-county metro Milwaukee area, 38% of employers responding said they'll add workers in the second quarter, up from 36% a year ago and 25% in 2002.
"Even for our staff, we've had to add," said Nicole Langley, Wisconsin area manager for Manpower. "Companies have done more with less. Now, it's totally opened up. We're in a major recruiting mode."
The latest survey also found that 13% of the employers in metro Milwaukee plan to cut jobs in the quarter, which is higher than in the two previous years.
Langley said she expected some of those cuts to include further factory layoffs as well as buyout plans at companies trying to trim higher-paid staff.
Bruce Muszynski, director for human resources consulting at H.S. Group in Green Bay, said he is seeing more employers too busy to keep putting off hiring.
"Business has picked up. It's not just a bubble," Muszynski said. "It's a recognition on the part of employers of the need to fill positions that they had open for one, two, maybe three years."
In particular, he said, he's noticing more openings in sales, engineering, marketing and operations.
Nationwide, the survey showed stronger seasonally adjusted hiring plans in both durable and non-durable manufacturing.
Job growth in those areas would be welcome developments in Wisconsin, which relies on manufacturing employment more than any other state but Indiana.
Over the last four years, Wisconsin lost nearly 83,000, or 14%, of its factory jobs.
Durable-goods employment, which accounts for 61% of the state's manufacturing jobs, fell 17% since 1999; non-durable dropped 9%.
From the March 16, 2004 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |
