The last recession has been officially over for more than two years now. But employers continue to behave as though they had taken to heart that old adage, "Once burned, twice shy of the fire."
A new Manpower hiring survey comprising employers in 42 countries found that hiring is on the rise, but oh so gradually. When U.S. responses to the survey are extracted, one sees a picture of a business community still demanding more proof that the global economy won't tank at any moment.
Perhaps Manpower Group's CEO, Jonas Prising, said it best.
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"As overall demand improves, we continue to see consistent, gradual strengthening in U.S. employers' hiring plans," Prising said in a release announcing results of the survey. "There's a little wind at our backs, as evidenced by the broadly positive hiring plans, and we see that as boding well for 2015. Employers are acutely aware that the economic situation could change on short notice due to unfolding geopolitical events or a slowdown in Europe, and that is contributing to moderate global jobs growth and a continuation of the patterns we've seen in prior quarters. It remains a very slow and uneven labor market recovery globally, and employers are reacting to an uncertain environment with a degree of caution."
Here's what the survey of first-quarter hiring intentions found:
Demand for new personnel is up in the U.S. marginally across as sections of the country, compared to the results yielded by last year's survey:
- 19 percent of respondents said they expect to increase in staff levels during Q1 2015;
- 6 percent expect to reduce workforce levels;
- 73 percent expect no change in their hiring plans;
- 2 percent of employers are undecided about their hiring intentions.
Demand for new personnel was strongest in the Midwest and West. Each of the 13 industry categories sampled by Manpower demonstrated an uptick over last year. Leisure & hospitality, wholesale & retail trade, transportation & utilities and professional & business services employers reported the strongest hiring intentions.
Among employers in the 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas, the strongest job prospects are expected in:
- Cape Coral, Florida
- McAllen, Texas
- Deltona, Florida
- Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Oxnard, California
The weakest outlooks are projected in:
- Spokane, Washington
- Portland, Oregon
- Syracuse, New York
- Rochester, New York
- Indianapolis, Indiana
Manpower said global results indicated that employers around the world are cautiously increasing staff.
"But there is little evidence of a broad-based acceleration of hiring activity," the survey release said.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
