Although more employers are projected to hire rather than lay off workers in February, the numbers are still expected to be behind from 2011, according to a report from the Society for Human Resource Management.

In fact, service sector hiring is predicted to fall by a net of 12.3 points while manufacturing sector hiring is believed to drop by a net of 2.5 points.

The report also shows a net of 20.9 percent of respondents plan to add jobs in February 2012 as opposed to a net of 33.2 percent of respondents that did so in 2011, representing a 12.3 point drop. Still, February shows a more positive outlook as more surveyed service-sector companies plan to hire at 26.3 percent than lay off at 5.4 percent.