Employment

Employers Keep Hiring

The hiring plans of U.S. companies for the fourth quarter of this year are at their highest level since 1977, according to a Manpower Inc. survey.

Of the 15,000 companies contacted:

  • Twenty-nine percent plan to increase staffing through year end -- while only 7 percent say they plan to cut back.

  • Sixty percent plan to maintain their present employment levels.

  • While some companies will hire for seasonal reasons, others are hiring because positions that opened up earlier in the year have gone unfilled.

  • Of all the companies surveyed, only those involved in the manufacture of durable goods said hiring would fall below expectation.

Analysts reported that employers seem to be shrugging off suggestions the economy might be slowing to a more moderate pace.

Nearly 40 percent of employers in the retail and wholesale sector said they would boost staffing through year end -- while only 6 percent plan to cut back.

The Northeast remains the weakest hiring market, while companies in the South and West report the strongest hiring intentions.

Source: Carl Quintanilla, "Hiring Plans Are Strongest Since '77; 'A Great Need for People' Fuels Search," Wall Street Journal, August 24, 1998.

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