The prospects for an upturn in hiring in north-central Connecticut are less than promising through the remainder of 2009, according to a fourth-quarter survey released by Manpower Inc.
Hartford-area employers expect to hire “at an unstable pace” during the fourth quarter of 2009, according to comments accompanying today’s Manpower Employment Outlook Survey from company spokesman Sean Lee.
Only 10 percent of the north-central Connecticut companies responding to the Manpower survey said that they plan to hire more employees in the period from October through December, while 19 percent expect to cut jobs, according to Lee.
Sixty-six percent said that they expect to keep their payroll level, while 5 percent said they are uncertain about their staffing plans for the final three months of this year.
Hiring activity is expected to be lighter than the previous quarter, when 9 percent of companies surveyed planned to increase staff levels and 13 percent expected to cut payrolls.
Job prospects appear best for the coming quarter in nondurable goods manufacturing — for items generally lasting less than three years — as well as in wholesale and retail trade, and leisure and hospitality, he said.
Hiring in professional and business services is expected to remain unchanged, according to Lee.
Least likely to hire are employers in construction, durable goods manufacturing, transportation, utilities, information, financial, education, health services, and government, he said.
Nationally, hiring prospects were slightly better than in the Hartford area, according to the survey.
“Of the more than 28,000 employers surveyed in the U.S., 12 percent expect to increase their staff levels during the October-December period, while 14 percent expect to reduce their payrolls,” Jonas Prising, Manpower’s president for the Americas, said. Sixty-nine percent expect no change in hiring, and 5 percent are undecided about their fourth-quarter hiring plans, Prising said.
In a seasonal anomaly, there was little promise of greater hiring even in the retail sector, which traditionally adds temporary help during the final three months of the year.
“Hiring in the wholesale and retail trade sector is expected to be down in the fourth quarter, suggesting that employers will not be adding the quantity of holiday hires they have in the past,” Prising said.
Wisconsin-based Manpower is a temporary employment services company.
