Employers in the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area expect to hire at a “steady pace” in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey released today.
From October to December, 16 percent of the companies interviewed said they plan to hire more employees, while 7 percent expect to reduce staff, according to the report.
Another 73 percent expect to maintain their current workforce levels and 4 percent are not certain about their hiring plans.
The survey said that this yields a “Net Employment Outlook” of 9 percent. Net Employment Outlook is derived by taking the percentage of employers anticipating an increase in hiring activity and subtracting from this the percentage of employers expecting a decrease in hiring activity.
“Hiring activity is expected to slow during the fourth quarter of 2011 compared to the third quarter when the Net Employment Outlook was 14 percent,” said Manpower spokesperson Sunny Ackerman. “Employers expect stronger employment prospects compared with one year ago when the Net Employment Outlook was -1 percent.”
The report said that for the coming quarter, job prospects appear best in non-durable goods manufacturing, transportation and utilities, wholesale and retail trade, information, education and health services, leisure and hospitality and other services.
Employers in professional and business services and government are planning to reduce staff.
Hiring in construction, durable goods manufacturing and financial activities is expected to remain unchanged.
The outlook throughout the country, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, based on interviews with 18,000 U.S. employers, is that 16 percent expect to add to their workforces and 11 percent expect a decline in their payrolls during the fourth quarter.
Approximately 70 percent of employers anticipate making no staffing level changes. When seasonal variations are removed from the data, the Net Employment Outlook is +7 percent.Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
