Survey: Companies To Hire More Workers

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Employers nationwide are cautiously optimistic about demand for their products and services and plan to hire slightly more workers in the first quarter of the year, according to a survey by staffing company Manpower Inc.

"There's more confidence that employers are showing than previously. It's still not robust, but it's steady and improving," said Jeffrey A. Joerres, chairman and CEO of Manpower.

The quarterly survey of 16,000 businesses, being released Tuesday, found 20% of companies expect to hire more people in the first quarter, while 13% intend to cut jobs. The rest anticipate no change or are uncertain about hiring prospects from January to March.

Joerres said most companies are hiring to meet increases in demands for goods and services, but won't overhire for fear of having to lay off workers later.

"This isn't going to be an easy environment for people to be finding jobs. So, it's still difficult out there," Joerres said.

The first-quarter results, when seasonally adjusted, are an improvement over the fourth quarter. That hasn't happened in five years, according to Manpower.

"Employers are finally feeling confident enough to slowly start hiring again," said economist Patrick Anderson of Anderson Economic Group in Lansing, Mich.

Don Wehbey, a senior economist with the Arizona Department of Economic Security, said while the survey shows more companies are optimistic about the economic recovery, most are keeping a wait-and-see attitude.

"People are uncertain whether it's going to be fickle or sure-footed," he said.

Nine of the 10 industries surveyed are more optimistic about hiring in the first quarter than they were in the fourth quarter of 2003, with the greatest optimism expressed by mining, construction, and manufacturing companies. Public administration is the only sector that expects fewer jobs than last quarter.

Anderson said that's because many state governments are still absorbing a decrease in tax revenue that prompted a round of budget cuts in the past year or so.

All four U.S. regions expect stronger job prospects in the first quarter. Employers in the West expect the most activity, while the Midwest expects the least, according to the survey.

But Joerres said the Midwest is actually doing well in manufacturing, "which is the first time in many, many quarters that we've seen that."

The nation's unemployment rate edged down to 5.9% and U.S. companies added 57,000 new jobs in November. Analysts, though, had predicted employers would add about 150,000 new jobs in November.

Despite the improving economy, employers have been hesitant to hire full-time workers. Instead, they've worked their current employees longer and harder or have hired temporary workers, Wehbey said. That helped worker productivity reach a 20-year high in the third quarter.