Hiring forecast looks upbeat

Manpower is predicting a positive hiring climate for the fourth quarter of 2010. The agency’s quarterly Employment Outlook Survey points to an upbeat quarter that will see 25 per cent of employers add staff while only seven per cent anticipate reductions. The net employment outlook of 18 per cent is an increase from the same quarter last year when the outlook stood at 12 per cent, and it’s a five percentage point increase over the third quarter.

“One of the things we’re definitely seeing is that as students go back to school, clients are still identifying needs for production levels,” Brooke Worthman of Manpower’s Kitchener office says by way of explanation for the upbeat hiring climate.

Of the ten surveyed industry sectors, employers in the Mining and Manufacturing — Durable Goods sectors report the most positive results for the fourth quarter of 2010, with projected Net Employment Outlooks of 25 per cent and 21 per cent respectively.

“I definitely see some office work in insurance and finance,” Worthman points out when talking about other sectors that are seeing some growth.

But back to school adds up to good business for job seekers.

“Historically, when students return to school, clients are gauging those production levels so that when the students go back, the work is completed,” Worthman explains. “(But) because a lot of clients were running so lean for 2010, the fourth quarter is definitely showing there is so much work that still needs to be done. Hence the increase (in net employment) over last year as well as the last quarter.”

Worthman says the volume of work is there and employment is steady until the end of the year — both signs, in her mind, of a continued economic recovery.