MAHONING VALLEY Hiring expected to increase

Optimism is shown in finance, insurance, real estate and service sectors.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Warren/-Youngstown area employers expect to hire at a strong pace during the first quarter of 2005, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.
From January to March, 23 percent of the companies interviewed plan to hire more employees, while three percent expect to reduce their payrolls, according to Manpower spokesperson Dennis Yurco.
An additional 71 percent expect to maintain their current staff levels and three percent are not certain of their hiring plans.
"In the Warren/Youngstown area, employers expect slightly more hiring activity than in the fourth quarter [of 2004] when 20 percent of the companies interviewed intended to increase head-count, and three percent planned to decrease it," said Yurco.
"Employers are more optimistic about hiring than they were a year ago when 20 percent of companies surveyed thought employment increases were likely and 10 percent intended to cut back."
Looking ahead
For the coming quarter, job prospects appear best in finance, insurance, real estate and services. Durable goods manufacturers voiced mixed hiring intentions. Hiring in construction, non-durable goods manufacturing, transportation/public utilities, wholesale/retail trade, education and public administration is expected to remain unchanged.
National results of the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey for the first quarter of 2005 predict a slight boost in the hiring pace.
Of the 16,000 U.S. employers surveyed, 24 percent anticipate an increase in hiring activity for the first quarter, while 10 percent expect to decrease staff levels.
Fifty-nine percent of employers surveyed foresee no change in job prospects, and 7 percent are unsure of their hiring plans.
When seasonal variations are removed from the data, the outlook for the first three months of 2005 reveals that employer confidence is expected to inch upward from last quarter and improve greatly from a year ago.