When comparing March 2012 to March 2011, service-sector hiring is expected to fall by a net of 10.3 points while manufacturing-sector hiring is projected to rise by a net of 4.8 points, according to a new report from the Society for Human Resource Management that surveyed 500 service-sector companies and 500 manufacturing companies.
The survey also shows that a net of 24.7 percent of respondents anticipate hiring in March as opposed to a net of 35 percent that did so one year ago, marking a 10.3-point drop. In March, 31.6 percent of service-sector respondents plan to hire than lay off at 6.9 percent.
A net of 50.5 percent of manufacturing-sector respondents plan to hire in March 2012 for a slight uptick from the 45.7 percent that added workers in 2011. This also represents the highest net hiring level since July 2006 at 52.7 percent. Based on the manufacturing-sector hiring index, 55.6 percent of respondents expect to add workers than cut jobs at 5.1 percent.
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"Steady hiring is likely driving the continuing rise in recruiting difficulty for the manufacturing sector," says Jennifer Schramm, GPHR, and manager of workplace trends and forecasting at SHRM.
The recruiting-difficulty index for February increased 5.9 points in the manufacturing sector while decreasing 9.2 points in the service sector, and a net total of 17.5 percent of respondents say their companies faced recruiting difficulty. Among service-sector respondents, a net total of 5.2 percent say their companies saw less difficulty in recruiting for key positions. Another 10.7 percent of service-sector respondents say they had more difficulty, and 15.9 percent say they had less.
Annually, the numbers rose 5.9 points in the manufacturing sector and declined 9.2 points in the service sector. The number of respondents reporting higher new-hire compensation saw little change as it rose 0.7 points in the manufacturing sector and fell 1.9 points in the service sector from February 2012 and February 2011.
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